To Raise a Demon King
by Shirohane
Summary: Not only is Yuuri suddenly informed that he will be the next demon king, but he hopelessly falls in love with Wolfram, who ran away from home to avoid a political marriage. Wolfram is only too glad to raise a demon king, though unknowingly. Yuuram.
1. Chapter 1

_Note: The original novel has been written by Takabayashi Tomo and the character design has been done by Matsumoto Temari. The copyright is held by Kadokawa Shoten and this fan novel is only meant to entertain, for fans by a fan. No profit has been made, nor intended, by this work._

I think this is what you call "caught red-handed".

Or is the right terminology "caught in action"?

No, I think it was the former.

Regardless of what the action might be worded, it didn't change the fact that I had my hands on the shoulder of Mr. Thief.

"Let me go, you creep!"

…Ms. Thief?!

The thief who attempted to run off with an armful of our apples defiantly glared at me. We were nearly the same height, but Ms. Thief's figure was much more slender than mine, not to mention her voice was (though somewhat husky) a girl's voice, so there was no mistake about her gender. It was too dark to see her face clearly, but I could tell that she was attempting to glare a hole into my face.

Isn't that kind of rude, especially when she was the one stealing from our farm…?;;

"You know," I started, "If you're hungry, you should just knock on the door and say, 'Excuse me, I'm hungry. Can I have some food?' Of course there is possibility that someone would say no, but seriously, not much people are mean enough to refuse food to a little girl like you. Stealing is just not the way to go. My mother would always say, "Yuu-chan, one who does not work should not eat, either"! Not to mention, when you're caught stealing, you should not be glaring at…"

"I'm not a girl," the girl—who was not a girl after all—snapped. Eh~?! But his voice was so soft! Maybe he's just a really tall kid? He determinedly shook my hands off of his shoulders and he would have attempted to run again if I had not grabbed him by the collar of his neck.

"I'm not going to take you to the police or anything, so just calm down, okay?" I said, attempting to sooth Mr. Thief. He struggled, but I must have been right about my assumption that he's still a kid, because I managed to hold onto him without too much trouble. I wasn't sure what to do about Mr. Thief, so I dragged him home. My parents would know what to do with him.

"Yuu-chan, set the table, please?" My mom said, looking up from her cooking. Her eyes focused on the sullen figure next to me. "Who is that, your girlfriend? My, Yuu-chan, you never told Mama about any girl!"

"It's not—"

"I'm not—"

We spoke up at the same time, and I glanced over at my companion. He had thrown his hood off, and in the brightly lit kitchen, I saw his face properly for the first time.

Whoa, an angel?!;;;;;;;

A creature that cannot possibly be a human, because he was too beautiful for that, met my eyes briefly before he looked away. His slightly wavy, short hair tumbled over his high and noble forehead, the silky gold-colored locks falling into his bright green eyes. His cream-colored skin was delicately dusted over with rose on his cheeks and lips, making his lake-colored emerald eyes appear brighter. He truly looked like an angel who had somehow fallen from the sky and was pouting because he could not return.

The angel quickly turned into a blonde demon, though, because he started to shout at my mother, "What part of me looks like a female, you lowly wench?! You shall shut your trap!"

Whoa.

Wait a second there.

I don't care if he's the current champion of Most Beautiful Men competition or whatever, but no one insults my mom and gets away with it.

"Apologize!" I shouted at him. "Apologize to what you said to my mom, right now!"

His big green eyes became round, and then they narrowed into tiny orbs as red appeared on his cheeks. He shouted back, "I will not, peasant! What is wrong with calling a commoner exactly what she is, and reminding her of her status?"

I was about to punch him, but since it would be a shame to bust up such a pretty face, I slapped him instead.

"Yuu-chan! You will not fight with your friend right in front of me! And using violence, even!" My clueless mother scolded me, pulling the little jerk behind her. "Both of you, help me set the table! And no more fighting!"

The boy's face had turned completely pale, and his eyes blazed with anger. He started to open his mouth and I tensed, thinking I would really get into a fight with him if he said anything else about my mom, but mom lifted lid of the pot to stir her curry and most wonderful fragrance wafted up. The thief slash angel slash jerk must have been really hungry, because he quietly helped mom set the table, though he didn't apologize.

In all that commotion I forgot to tell mom about catching him stealing our apple, but it didn't seem that important. After all, he seemed really hungry, and he was helping out now for his meal, so I thought it was fine. (Not to mention, in the end he didn't (couldn't?) steal the apples after all.)

"So what is your name? From Yuu-chan's friends, I only know Ken-chan!" My mom brightly chatted as she scooped up the rice. The boy looked at mother, and then lowered his eyes. Whoa, such long eyelashes…

Um, anyway. He sulkily replied, "Wolf."

"Do you live around here, Pu-chan?"

Color drained out of the boy(newly named Pu-chan)'s face, and he tightly clenched the spoons he was holding until his knuckles turned white. He replied, "I ran away from home."

"Why?" Mom asked without a trace of surprise or anxiety, only cheerfully humming as she dished up the curry. He glanced at the curry. I could almost imagine what he was thinking.

"My brothers are trying to force me into a marriage."

I nearly dropped the water cup. Force who into what?! No one does something like that, unless…

Oh.

Was Wolf a demon? That would explain his ethereal beauty. I heard rumors about how beautiful the demon race were, but I never saw one in person. Demons still do that whole noble thing, don't they? And they do arranged marriage and other weird things like that? Did that mean Wolf was a demon noble, because I don't think commoners had political marriage thingie?

At that moment dad and Shouri came downstairs to eat, so after brief introduction of Wolf to everyone as my friend(…) who ran away from home because he didn't want to get married(…………..), we sat down to a dinner.

No one found that strange, apparently. Except me.

*****

Fortunately my parents said Wolf could stay as long as he wanted, and Wolf seemed pretty impressed by mom's curry because he agreed to work for his lodging and food. Or maybe he just didn't have anywhere else to go.

He really seemed to have no idea how to do anything by himself, making me surer than ever that he was a demon noble. He exclaimed that it was his first time seeing someone washing the dishes (he became more talkative after he had been fed), and offered to help dad with it. He ended up breaking two dishes before dad shooed him out. Afterwards he followed mom around like a lost chick who just found a hen. I felt like he avoided me. Probably because he felt embarrassed around me, since I caught him stealing the apples and all.

Shouri helped me with my homework while Wolf and mom watched TV downstairs and chatted, all of Wolf's previous hostility against mom melted away. When I was nearly done, Shouri suddenly said, "Did you think about it?"

I wanted to ask, 'about what?' but I knew very well what he was talking about. I imagined Wolf downstairs. Will all demons be like that? Will they be so hostile to humans, to commoners? Would I really be okay, being amongst thousands—no, millions—of people like Wolf? Having just met a demon in person, I became more freaked out than ever.

"I don't think I can do it," I said, shaking my head. "I mean, just popping up one day, telling me I'm—"

"Yuuri!" Wolf interrupted, throwing the door open. I nearly bit my tongue off. What the heck was that boy doing in pink lingerie?!!! Was he crazy?!;;

Wolf, who didn't seem ashamed of what he was wearing at all (maybe it was a demon thing?), looked around my room.

"Is this your room? Hmph, a wimpy room, well-matched with a wimp like yourself!"

"Don't call me a wimp!"

"I will be sleeping now!"

I glanced at the clock. Geh?! It was only ten?! "Are you already sleeping, Wolf?;;"

"What, you're having a problem with it?" Wolf asked, climbing on my bed. What was that crazy boy doing on my bed? "You can just wake me up when you're ready for bed."

"Why?" I asked, scratching the back of my head. "We have plenty of guestrooms. Just choose one and get off of my bed."

Wolf opened his cat-like green eyes still wider. Careful there, they might just pop out if you keep opening them wide like that.

"Yuuri… Aren't we going to live in your room? Or do you have a specific room for a new couple?"

"Haa? What couple? Where? What?" Man, he really lost his marbles. I didn't even understand what he was talking about. But from the looks Wolf was giving me, you'd like I'm the one who totally lost it.

"You and me? You know? Oh, is it because I didn't give you an answer yet? I accept, so you don't have to slap my other cheek."

"Haaaaa?!;;;;"

Jesus?! Were demons Christians?!

"So we're officially engaged now."

Apparently not!

"Haaaaaaaa?!!! Didn't you say you were a boy?! Engaged? What?"

"Same sex get engaged all the time, where I come from," Wolf said, giving me the look again. It was amazing how someone who was smaller than me managed to look at me down his nose. "And, since you are apparently a wimp with no clue, a slap on left cheek is proposal of marriage. Even though you're dumb, since you're pretty hot, I'll be kind enough to accept you. But you'll have to work hard to bring up your standards before you will be my husband!"

I became speechless because how the hell do you even start explaining things to this lunatic, sadly lost boy?! Shouri, though, found this the funniest thing of the century, because he fell off the chair laughing. On the floor he twitched in the most stupid fashion as he gasped for breath.

Ugh, big brothers. So embarrassing.

"You can, however," Wolf continued, pointedly ignoring my brother who was laughing like a hyena. (I didn't even know he could do that.) Beautiful peony pink blush appeared on his cheeks as he said in a small voice, "have sex with me before marriage, so don't worry about that. As long as you're careful not to make me pregnant. Because I don't want to have a baby out of wedlock."

He gave me a shy look from underneath his thick fringe of gold eyelashes, and then dived into my bed and disappeared under my covers.

I really wanted to cry as Shouri started to cry from laughing too much.

Because why the HELL did I become erect from his (HIS!) words?!!!!!!!!!!

( To Be Continued )  
Wahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! |||||||orz


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up on the floor and blankly stared at the ceiling.

I should NOT be waking up on the floor because I have a very nice bed that has a lovely blue and white blanket and sheets, along with a big pillow and a stuffed bear that Shouri won for me at the summer festival when we were kids. (I was a very creative kid so I named him "Mr. Bear".)

I blinked few times in confusion because as far as I remember, I have never fallen off of my bed. Giving up on the mystery of how I fell off, I proceeded to crawl back into my bed. Except a blond angel was diagonally stretched across my bed, his arms and legs flung widely in the imitation of a snow angel. I stared at Mr. Angel, clad in half-transparent silk night-tie in the most delicate shade of pink, not comprehending the situation before I remembered what happened yesterday. My eyes automatically travelled down the length of his body before they rested on his red g-strings, wantonly exposed as his lingerie thingie got tangled up in my blanket and rolled up all the way to his waist.

Oooooookay. I did NOT see that. I did not need to confirm with my eyes that, despite how beautiful he was, the individual on my bed was most definitely a boy. Also, I did not need to see g-strings with something inside (………) this early in the morning and get traumatized like I have never been before in my short 17 years of life.

The angel moaned a little, shifting, and silky locks of gold fell in wavy locks into his eyelids as his rose-colored lips pouted. I moved to cover him up with my blanket, because no matter what kind of hobby he might have(…) and how much he might disturb me, it'll be mean to let him catch cold when I could have prevented it. My movement, however, woke him up. Wolf leapt up from his perch on my bed, snarling as he reached for something in his waist area. His other hand gripped my throat instantly, and I was amazed at how strong the tiny, fragile fingers were.

"Um, excuse me, but I can't breathe," I meekly said. "I'm sorry for waking you up, though."

Piercing green eyes stared at me, dazed, before they cleared and Wolf hurriedly pulled his hand away from my throat. He bit into his lips as he sat back, lowering his head.

"No, no, I… Did I hurt you?"

"No," I reassured him. Wolf let out a sigh of relief, then a puzzled look crossed his face.

"But Yuuri, why are you leaning over me so early in the morn…" he started before an understanding light flooded his green orbs. He started to undo the ribbons on his pajamas. "I'm just not used to anyone touching me when I'm sleeping. I will be careful from now on. I really did not think… Honestly, Yuuri, last night would have been so much better."

"Last night?" I repeated rather stupidly, watching Wolf pull the ribbons apart. The top part loosened, gently falling away from his slender shoulders, exposing more of his creamy skin. A little more, and small, pink nipple came into sight, followed by its partner. Even though I knew we were both men, I felt like I was doing something inappropriate as I watched Wolf hurriedly removing his lingerie. It might have to do with how white his skin was, and how pink his nipples were. Feeling like a pervert but unable to look away, I continued to stare. I was startled when Wolf took hold of my hand.

"No need to be shy," Wolf said, his gentle voice almost purring as he guided my hand toward his chest. He felt warm and soft under my calloused fingers. His eyes met mine, and he chastely lowered his, but there was something really seductive about that action. And then it finally registered on my not very brilliant mind exactly what he was thinking.

I really needed to pull away and tell Wolf that no, I did not have an interest in having sex with a man, and get the hell out of the room. But I had never been popular with girls, and I had never touched a girl. It felt wrong, but Wolf was the one offering it to me, wasn't he? Anyway, what's a big deal about touching another guy's chest? Even though he was soft, and smelled sweet … His chest was flat, but he was just as soft and squishy as I had fantasized a girl to be, and even reminding myself that this was a boy I was touching did nothing to calm my heart which started to beat wildly. The little pink nub under my finger started to harden as I curiously touched it, and then Wolf suddenly let out a little mewl that didn't sound very different from sounds that a cat might make.

"Yuuri," Wolf whimpered, lifting his face. I realized that he wanted a kiss. Right, what's a big deal about a kiss? He was so soft, and he smelled so good, and he was so pretty, and…

"Yuu-chan, Pu-chan, breakfast is ready! If you don't hurry you'll be late for school!"

My mother's voice broke the trance. With a yelp I pushed Wolf away from me. Wolf looked at me, confused and hurt, but I had no presence of mind to apologize to him before I high-tailed it out of my room. I was groping a boy! I was going to kiss a boy! Okay, not only was that really disturbing, but I was starting to think that it wasn't a big deal! How was I supposed to know that homosexuality was contagious?!

Shivering, I ran down the stairs and nearly crashed into Shouri, who arched one eyebrow but did not say anything. My mom was bustling around in the kitchen, and she looked disapproving as I sat down and poured out a bowl of cereal.

"Good morning, Mom, Dad."

"Morning. Yuu-chan, you didn't even wash up yet? And where is Pu-chan?"

"What is your friend going to do about school?" Dad asked, looking up from his newspaper. "Truancy is against the law, you know. Shall I go with you boys to school today? Get Wolf registered?"

"Is that okay, Dad?" I asked, starting to smear a toast with butter and strawberry jam. "I don't know how it's going to work, though, since he's… He's a demon. Would it be okay for him to, you know, just go to school?"

"He's a demon?" My parents echoed, looking completely surprised.

Um, duh?;;

While my parents conversed excitedly, I concentrated on my breakfast, figuring that my parents would know what to do about Wolf. I looked up when Shouri and Wolf entered the kitchen. Wolf was, to my relief, dressed in a normal clothing. As a matter of fact, he was wearing my T-shirt and jeans. Come to think of it, he didn't have any luggage with him, so I guess it couldn't be helped… (Wait, so where did the pink lingerie come from? …On a second thought, I don't want to know…)

After everyone exchanged good-morning's, Wolf primly sat next to me and curiously watched me eat, and then nibbled on a piece of toast smothered with marmalade.

"How old are you, Wolf-kun?" My father asked, and Wolf put down his food and politely wiped his mouth before speaking.

"Eighty two years of age, Father."

Haa?

"What?" I asked. I thought I just heard Wolf say…

"Eighty and two."

"Eighteen?"

"Are you stupid, Wimp?" Wolf asked, clearly losing patience with me. "If I were only eighteen years old, I would still be toddling around."

"I'm seventeen," I helpfully supplied. Wolf stared at me.

"Humans age five times faster than demons," Shouri explained, and everyone looked relieved with the explanation. So that made Wolf about sixteen, didn't it?

"We'll see what we could do about getting you to school," my father kindly said, and Wolf looked confused again, but he chirped, 'yes, Father,' before he went back to his breakfast.

When I stepped out of the door, Wolf and Father in tow, Wolf expectantly looked around.

"So where is the helicopter?"

"What helicopter?" I asked.

"Do you use limousine as means of transportation to your academy?"

"I walk to school," I informed him. "It's only thirty minute walk away."

"Thirty minutes?!!!"

"I'll drive you boys to school today," My dad soothingly said. He went to the garage while I studied the boy standing next to me. Helicopter? Limousine? Arranged marriage?;;

Wolf met my eyes, and then looked away. "Stop looking at me."

"Oh, sorry," I said, blushing a little. It was rude to stare like…

"It's embarrassing if someone as cute as you keep looking at me intensely like that…"

…………Um, you need to get your eyes checked, obviously. Also, get your head checked while you're at it…

"Shibuya!" A voice called, and I looked up to see Murata Ken.

"Hey, Murata," I said, waving my arm, and Murata walked up to me. He attended a private school near my school (mine was public, even though it wasn't a bad school, considering you had to take a test to get in), but we have attended the same junior high school. Murata looked at Wolf curiously, and to my surprise, Wolf glared back at him, hostility clearly written on his pretty features.

"He's mine," Wolf informed Murata, clutching my arm. "We got engaged yesterday. You can't have him!"

He'd better not do that at school because I will have to transfer.

"I understand, Sir Wolfram von Bielefeld," Murata soothingly said, holding up a hand. "But it does not become you to show such hostility and ill manners towards friend of your betrothed. What will your husband-to-be think?"

Um… Plain Japanese, please?

"I apologize," Wolf said, flushing, his voice small. "True, it was most inappropriate. I will be more cautious. I hope you do not think ill of me, Yuuri."

"Huh?" I asked in a very intelligent manner.

"But it is your fault for being so beautiful. How can I help but be jealous of all attentions directed towards you?"

"What?"

My dad came with the car just in time to save me from making an even bigger moron out of myself, and on the ride to school, Wolf (whose real name seemed to be Wolfram something) chatted cheerfully with Murata about stuff I didn't understand. I knew Murata was into weird stuff like demon history and stuff, but I was impressed that Murata cheerfully asked Wolfram about people and places I never heard about in my life.

I, myself, had trouble enough passing the Japanese history class.

*****

At school, as it would be expected, Wolfram was a hit with all the girls. Wolfram was polite enough to them, but when one of the girls asked, "Do you have a girlfriend?", Wolfram's eyes took on a dangerous glint. He suddenly looked smug.

"No, but yesterday, Yuuri and I..."

I clasped my hand over Wolfram's mouth and dragged him out of the classroom, all the way to the school rooftop. Wolfram struggled away from me and peevishly asked, "What?"

"Okay, first of all, I'm going to explain about yesterday. Wolfram, you probably know, but it was an accident, okay?"

"What was?" Wolfram asked, his eyes narrowing. I could almost see fur rising along his back, as if he were an angry kitten.

"The engagement thing! It's illegal! Men do not get engaged, much less married to, other men, okay? I heard they actually made it legal in some… parts of… America or Europe or whatever, but most definitely not here in Saitama. I had no idea that the slapping thing was a proposal, and I—"

"But I accepted, so it's fine," Wolfram contently said. "We will get married at Shin Makoku. Problem solved."

"No! No! I take it back! Let's cancel it, okay? I don't want to marry a boy!"

"You shall not cancel it!" Wolfram shouted, his face turning red. "I've already accepted! You cannot!"

"Okay, so you cancel it," I said, exasperated. "I don't even know why you accepted. We've known each other for like, what, less than 24 hours? Look, my GPA sucks, I've been a bench-warmer for the last 2 seasons of baseball, as you can see I'm short and plain-looking, and I'm kind of slow."

"But you're really hot," the blond said, his cheeks turning pink. "And… even though I have stole from you, you still… brought me into your household. Your family is nice. I don't know what GPA and baseball are, but… no matter what you lack, I shall make up for it."

"Do you really like me?" I asked, incredulously. Maybe it was a demon thing. I mean, how could he seriously like me in such a short period of time?

"I will," Wolfram solemnly said. "I am already… very fond of you, and I'm sure this feeling will only grow. I am sure I will love you more than I will ever love a terrible, old, smelly, disgusting old man that Elder Brother dared to choose for me!"

"So you don't really like me yet," I said, relieved. "You just want to marry me because you don't want to marry the other guy you were supposed to."

Wolfram didn't say anything.

"Look, Wolfram, seriously. Let's break this up, okay? It was a mistake. We haven't known each other for a long time and we don't know anything about each other. We don't love each other. You're a guy, I'm a guy, it's wrong for two guys to be together. At least, that's how I feel. I mean, I have nothing against homosexuals, but I don't want to _be _one!"

"So what was this morning?" Wolfram asked peevishly, and I could almost see the fur rising along his back again. Maybe it was his green eyes that made me keep thinking of cats. "If it's so wrong, then what was that all about?"

"That-that was just, how should I explain it, teenage hormones that went out of control…"

I didn't get to finish my explanation because Wolfram yanked my head towards him and pressed his lips against mine.

It would've been nice if it felt totally disgusting and wrong and I could have pushed him away, but that wonderful, flowery, candy-like smell came from Wolfram and his lips felt really soft and warm. The sweet sensation lingered on my lips as he pulled away, only to kiss me again, more gently, more sweetly, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

"I wouldn't do this with someone I didn't find really attractive, and sweet, and worth getting engaged to," Wolfram softly whispered, his voice a little huskier than usual. He looked at me through his thick, gold-colored eyelash. "And neither should you."

Then he patted my cheek and walked away, leaving me to gawk at his retreating back.

*****

Cancelling my engagement with Wolfram and convincing him that I was not interested in any homosexual romance did not go so well, but Wolfram seemed to realize that I wasn't proud of our relationship, because he didn't say anything about our engagement to anyone else after that. Back home, mom and Wolfram went out to order a new school uniform for Wolfram while I went out to play some baseball with my friends.

When I came back home, Wolfram and mom still weren't back. I took a quick shower. After removing my contact lenses, I examined my hair. The roots were starting to be visible. I really had to dye my hair again.

"Yuuri, look what Mother bought me," Wolfram said, barging into the bathroom without knocking. Our eyes met and Wolfram gasped, dropping the shopping bag he was carrying. He backed away slightly.

"You," he said, and then he glanced at my hair. Under the bathroom lighting, the black roots that I had brushed so carefully out of view were very visible--As visible as my coal-black eyes. He bit into his lips, and then stated, "You're a demon."

"No," I said, and when Wolfram opened his mouth to protest, I added, "I am half a demon."

[ To Be Continued ]  
In this AU, "Earth" is divided into human side and demon side. So Shin Makoku is smack in between the Americas and the Asian continent. The Saitama mentioned here is combination between real Saitama and the human world featured in original work that is ruled by Lanzill. (Lanzill rules this human world, too, but no one really listens to nor cares about what he says.) The Shin Makoku mentioned here is also combination between the original Shin Makoku mentioned in the story and our world. The demon race have cell phones and computers and everything. (Hahaha) Typically, humans and demons are completely not interested in each other, though. For example, humans don't know the name of the current ruler of Shin Makoku and vice versa.

I've decided to keep the original plot of double black being really rare and exotic and beautiful, because that's the only thing Yuuri has going for him. If I even take that away from him, Wolfram's not going to even glance at a loser like him!;;;;; I don't think it'll be that weird because even real Japanese rarely have really REALLY black eyes and hair. Normally Asians have really dark brown hair and brown eyes, don't we?

I was pleasantly shocked at the number of reviews! You're all such sweeties. Thank you so much. Please do tell me if there are any other questions or items that you are confused about. Also, tell me if I'm using a word that you do not understand, since I tend to get mixed up and I sometimes use word or expression that is not used in English fandom. (...............)


	3. Chapter 3

I think it was when I was seven or so when I fell off of a ten floor building.

That was before my dad transferred from Shibuya branch of his bank and moved away to Saitama. He had a really harsh work schedule, and he was rarely home. If he was not working until late hours, he was playing golf or drinking with clients and work acquaintances. Even mom had to tag along in some of these social meetings, and Shouri (3 years my senior) took care of me, along with a baby-sitter. That day, my parents were arguing about meeting clients, once again.

"I won't stand it! I won't stand it any longer, Uma-chan!" Mom had yelled, while I cowered behind Shouri. The frilly blue dress Mom dressed me in itched a lot, but I didn't dare to complain when Mom was so angry. (Don't worry too much about my mom's, erm, hobbies. She stopped when I entered elementary school.)

"Now, now, honey," Dad pleaded, but Mom refused to be mollified.

"It's always you! It's always you, because you were in Boston and you can speak fluent English! I will be sitting there, and they will coo at me, 'Oh, Jennifer, beautiful, geisha, samurai'! Well, you know what? Miko Jennifer Shibuya refuses to stand any more of this nonsense! And I will not put on a kimono, either!"

"Will mama divorce papa, Oniichan?" I had tearfully asked Shouri, and Shouri coolly replied, "Maybe."

I don't know why I was so obsessed with the idea of our parents getting divorced, and the idea of them abandoning us. Too much TV, maybe? Anyway, my older brother's response was enough for me to turn on the waterworks, and I ran out of the house, wailing.

Shouri immediately ran after me, yelling, "Yuu-chan!" but mom and dad were too busy arguing behind closed doors to realize I had ran out of the house. I climbed up the stairs, but unfortunately Shouri didn't realize this and ran down the stairs in a futile attempt to find his little brother.

Didn't Shouri know that smoke and idiots liked high places?

Upon arriving at the rooftop of our apartment, I saw a notice pasted on the door, but unable to read such difficult characters (at that time I had barely mastered 30 characters), I ignored it and opened the door. The rooftop fence was under construction, so the key was left open for the workers to go back and forth. Still sniveling about the tragedy of our parents' possible divorce, I had clutched the bars that had bordered the area and leaned out to look out at the city.

The metal bars promptly fell apart.

I screamed and clung to the roof edge, but seven year old child's fingers weren't very strong. I continued to scream and scrabbled to hold on when Shouri showed up with my parents in tow. It seems that I relaxed my hold as soon as I saw my family, because before I realized what had just happened, I was plunging towards the ground.

I don't think I had quite fallen past the 7th floor when tendrils of ivy-like plants wrapped themselves around me and held me in place. The thin, green vines slowly pulled me up until I was crying in my parents' arms, scared but quite safe. Few minutes afterwards, everyone showed up at the rooftop, yelling and questioning at me, my parents, or both. Luckily, no one saw the plant thing my dad did except members of our family.

That day I found out that my father was a demon.

The fact that I was half-demon never bothered me, until—

"Yuuri, you're so hot!"

Um, someone do something about this sparkly-eyed, love-smitten gay boy in front of me.

"Let me see, let me see," Wolf cooed, resting his tiny hand on my arm as he leaned closer to me to stare at my eyes. Depthless, clear emerald eyes crashed into mine, and that plum-candy smell wafted towards me again. Wolfram should be using the same body wash as I am using, so why was it that he smelled so sweet? His pretty face came dangerously close to my face. "I've never seen such completely black eyes! They're so beautiful… I heard that my grandmother possessed such eyes, but mine's just plain green."

Define "plain" for me, please.

"Our babies are going to be so beautiful," Wolfram gushed, kissing my cheek. "And your hair, such gorgeous, raven-colored locks, just the color of midnight—"  
I gently pushed Wolfram away from me because I was starting to feel really uncomfortable with all this gay love being poured upon me.

"I'm sorry to inform you, Wolfram," I gravely said, "two guys can't make love, much less make babies. It's just… physically impossible."

Wolfram solemnly looked back at me, and then he sighed when he realized I was serious. He gave me one of his condescending looks. "Google it, Yuuri."

……What?!!!!! But we both had…! And we both didn't have…?!!!! How is it possible that…? No, no, no, I definitely didn't want to know!!!!;;;;;;;;

While I was getting disturbed out of my mind, Wolfram picked up the shopping bag he had dropped and started to show me what Mom had bought for him.

"Look, she bought me this, and this, and isn't this really nice?"

"That's very cute, Wolfram," I started, before I realized that Wolfram was showing me girl clothes. I mean, they weren't pink with sparkles and unicorns, but the cut and design were definitely for girls, not a high school boy. You could argue that they were gender ambiguous, I guess, but still. I grabbed Wolfram's hand and dragged him to the kitchen, where my mom was making an apple pie. She looked up and smiled when we stormed in.

"I'm making this with the apples you've picked for us, Pu-chan," she said. I was confused before I remembered the apples Wolfram tried to steal. He had the decency to blush. "This is for supper, but I have some cookies I've just baked—"

"Mom!" I interrupted. Before she could tell me that it was rude to interrupt her, I continued, "Wolfram is a boy!"

"Yes?" Mom asked.

"I thought you quit this hobby after I entered elementary school! Why did you buy him girl clothes?!"

"I didn't," Mom said, pouting. "They're gender neutral and very fashionable. Besides, what Shouri and you insist on wearing are so not cute…"

"Mom, it has cat drawing on it! And this one has laces! And this pink and white hoodie—"

"They look very cute on me, Yuuri," Wolfram soothingly said, as if that solved everything. "Just like the night gown that used to be Mother's."

Oh, so that's where the pink PJ's came from.

"I'm sure they do, but that's not the problem…" I trailed off as I realized what I just said. I threw up my hands and stormed out to our backyard. Okay, I will not care if he shows the whole world he's gay! What do I care?!

Wolfram came out few minutes after I left, watching me feeding the chickens. Even though I called our place "farm", we didn't have cows or horses or anything like that. It was more of my mom's hobby than anything else. We had a tiny orchard with some fruit trees, small vegetable patch, and some chickens. And a cat, who disappeared once in a while and came back to have kittens. Wolfram fidgeted.

"Yuuri," he called me. I didn't answer. "Yuuri?"

"What?"

"I understand that gender roles are much stricter here," Wolfram said, turning to look at me. He sighed lightly before he continued. "I know I am… um… behaving in an unacceptable way, sometimes. I know I embarrass you sometimes. I am trying my best to fit into your culture. I won't wear pretty clothing if you don't want me to. But,"

I looked at him in surprise at his new tone. Clear, transparent green eyes looked back at me. It felt like I would get sucked into his eyes if I looked at him too long, but I couldn't look away. "Please do know that I am trying my best, and that it's very difficult for me. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I'm terrified that my brother will find me, but at the same time, I wish he would hurry and find me already."

Wolfram turned to go back into the house, but I called out, "Wait, Wolf."

Wolfram stopped moving, but he didn't look my way this time. Crap, what if he's crying?!

"I'm not embarrassed of you! I mean, it's not like you're one of those creeps in Akihabara who totally look gross[1], and you're really pretty so it's not like it's an eyesore if you dress as a girl, and you do look really cute in your pink PJ's, and I was just pissed at mom because I have some childhood trauma associated with cross-dressing, and I'm just worried that if you dress as a girl you'd attract some pervert's attention so I'd really prefer if you wear normal T-shirt and jeans?"

I have a habit of talking a lot when I'm nervous.

Our eyes met. To my relief, Wolfram wasn't crying. Rather, he looked amazed at my ability to say all of that in one breath, and then he came closer and kissed my cheek.

"I'll never disobey you."

He gave me a dazzling smile and then went back into the house, probably to help mom prepare for supper.

I must have been really nervous about Wolfram crying because my hands were all sweaty and my heart was beating wildly. When I realized that he wasn't angry at me after all, strength went out of my knees so I nearly fell on my butt, on top of the chickens.

*****

Apparently mom bought Wolfram a new sleepwear. The blonde pranced in with long white dress-looking thing that did nothing to hide his slender shoulders. The sky-blue ribbons that decorated the PJ's matched my PJ, to Wolfram's delight. He gave me a kittenish look as he said, "I won't let other men see me in cute clothes, so it's okay if I wear it only in your presence, right?"

No, please don't…

He seemed to take my weak smile as a 'yes' because he climbed on my bed. I went to the window to close the curtains when I thought I saw someone watching me from behind the tree. When I blinked, the person was gone. It was dark and I was on the 2nd floor, so I couldn't see very well. I continued to stare at the spot for few more minutes, but no other movements could be seen. I thought my eyes had played a trick on me and closed the curtains. I turned to look at Wolfram, who was happily fluffing up the pillows.

"You really like wearing girl clothes, huh," I commented, and Wolfram looked up at me, shock written on his features. He looked like a fluffy kitten that had somehow lost its toy, so confused and cute did he look, that I had to bite my lips to stop myself from laughing.

"No? What the hell are you saying, Wimp?"

"Don't call me a wimp."

"Who'd enjoy wearing female apparels? I'm not a pervert," Wolfram coldly said, and I gawked at his dress clad form. "I like wearing cute things because I want to look good for the man I love. But I will never willingly wear female costume, unless it was part of a mission or something."

I wasn't sure if I should feel relieved or afraid at his answer, but before I could make up my mind, Wolfram closed his eyes and lifted up his face. Realizing that he wanted a good-night kiss, I pecked his lips. I mean, it didn't feel disgusting or anything, and I didn't want Wolfram to get upset because I refused. Wolfram clutched my arms and pulled me closer, kissing me again. Something small and wet and warm came into my mouth.

………tongue?!

It was bad enough that my first kiss was with a guy, but saliva-swapping with a guy was totally, completely,

Nice. Unfortunately. I mean, the feel of his tongue exploring my mouth was kind of cute, and he tasted sweet, and he fit snugly into my arms. Also, there was that sweet, fruity scent that was driving me wild. I didn't even like sweets, so I didn't know why I liked the fragrance so much, but he smelled and tasted so nice that I kept kissing him, our tongue messily entangling. He was intoxicating. The baby-soft skin, sweet lips, slender fingers that dug into my scalp, softly curling gold-colored hair, mesmerizing emerald eyes…

We broke off and Wolfram softly panted, clutching my shirt. His breath felt hot against my cheek. He was slightly trembling. I kissed his neck, where the scent was the strongest, softly at first and then more aggressively, almost biting him in my eagerness to taste him. He tried to shift but fell back into the bed and I crawled over him. He meekly looked up at me.

"You smell so sweet." The voice that sounded so low and husky that it didn't sound like mine escaped from my throat. My vision was starting to go white. My head hurt, but I was filled with euphoric senses. Wolfram turned bright red at my words, even to the tip of his ears. So cute. So sweet. Mine. Something was surging through my body.

_So claim him already._

I pulled down his dress and licked at the little nub I found there. The candy smell grew stronger. Using my tongue, I licked in circles around the nipple and then pressed down on it using flat of my tongue, and then flickered the tip over it. I started to suck in earnest, but it was when I lightly bit on it and tugged it that Wolfram made that kitten noise, mewling as he tried to pull away from me. I held onto his waist, leaving the erect, saliva-soaked nipple to glisten while I greedily sucked and licked on its partner.

"Yuuri," Wolfram whined, his cheeks bright pink. "Slowly, it feels too good…"

"I shall make thee feel even better," I said, laughing, not in a mean way. I kissed his nipple. He kept mewling and writhing. I kept kissing him as I played with him, and he panted as I didn't give him much opportunity for breathing.

"Yuuri," Wolfram whimpered, hopelessly softening in my arms. "Don't, I…"

"There exists no part of thine that is distasteful," I purred. "Permit me to taste more of thee."

The angel blushed harder, if that was even possible at this point, and gave me a small nod. He slowly spread his legs open. I moved to settle between his legs, about to…

To…

To, um, what?;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

It was as if I were slapped. What the fuck was I trying to do with a boy?! Feeling as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on me, I stared at hopelessly writhing boy underneath me who looked at me expectantly. Don't give me that look!;;;;;;;;;

"I need to go to the bathroom," I announced before I ran to the bathroom. I heard Wolfram angrily shouting something behind me, but I ignored him and locked the door. I snapped out of the haze I was in, but that didn't help because I was still really, really, really erect.

I ejaculated three times before I gained the courage to get back into bed with Wolfram. I imagined having sex with disheveled, cute Wolfram as I masturbated. I felt like a total loser.

When I returned, Wolfram sniffed before he turned his back on me and slept.

[ To Be Continued ]  
[1] Imagine a pimply, fat, smelly middle-aged man prancing around in female clothes. (......) I apologize for the mental image.

I don't know about Shouri, but Yuuri was born in Boston so isn't he technically an American, now that I think about it? He can even run for presidency! Hahaha.


	4. Chapter 4

Something really bright blocked my view when I opened my eyes. Argh, the curtain! Too much sun too early in the morning…!

But when I shifted, the sunlight miraculously disappeared, and it took me few minutes to realize that the "sunlight" was hair of the boy who slept curled up next to me. The boy seemed fit to be part of Vienna Boys' Choir, with his ivory skin and wavy blond hair that partly covered his thick gold eyelashes. If he opened his eyes, marble-like transparent aqua eyes would stare at you, flashing bright green when they caught sunlight. No matter how much I looked at him, I couldn't get over how beautiful he was, despite that he was a boy who had same thing I had between my legs.

Mr. Prospective Member of Vienna Choir Boy's eyes flustered open as I was thinking this, and as they flickered into focus Wolfram slowly pouted until he was positively scowling. Don't do that to your pretty face; it might get stuck that way…

"Good morning," I offered. Wolfram (Mr. Vienna Choir Boy) glared.

"Wimp," he hissed as he untangled his limbs from mine. I cringed, not at his words, but at the hostile tone of his voice.

"It's not my fault. I didn't know what to do," I feebly said. Wait, that sounded like I would've done something if I knew what to do. Which I wasn't going to. Really. "And anyway, we haven't known each other for a long time. And we're still really young. Besides from the fact that I don't have any condoms—"

"We don't have much time!" Wolfram impatiently said, shaking his head. Wow, that looked just like that shampoo commercial I saw last night… "Yuuri, the engagement was not done in presence of any noble, so it's not binding! We need to consummate the engagement if it will be accepted by other nobles. You need to claim me before my brother finds me."

"Wolfram," I snapped, starting to feel frustrated myself, "That's not a good reason to have sex with someone. It's an expression of love, not… some sort of means for you to rebel against your big brother. I feel like you're using me."

"You were perfectly willing last night, weren't you?" Wolfram retorted, and I felt my cheeks heating up.

"Because you were seducing me! I told you I'm not interested in you that way! Just because you're so pretty and I have this teenage hormone thing going on—"

"Oh, so it's my fault now?!"

"Yeah, because obviously we don't love each other and it's wrong for us to have sex just because _you_ don't want to marry another guy and _my _stupid dick can't listen to reason!"

That was when Wolfram slammed the pillow at my face. He kept hitting me until feathers were flying everywhere, I was knocked back on the bed in a daze, and Wolfram was panting heavily. His green eyes were full of hurt.

"I don't know about you," he said softly. "But I love you, you moron."

He chucked the battered pillow at my face for a good measure before he stomped out of the room.

*****

"Your hair grows so quickly," Mom said, sighing as she examined my newly dyed hair. I mutely stared at the dark orange brown hair reflected in the mirror. I had just gotten out of the shower after mom had dyed it. "Shou-chan's hair, too. I wonder why my boys both have black hair and eyes? Uma-chan has grey hair and grey eyes, and Mama has brown hair and brown eyes."

I'm tired of dying my hair and wearing color contacts, too, Mom.

"You're running out of color contacts, aren't you? What color do you want this time? I think hazel is very nice! Or would you like green, like Pu-chan's?"

_I love you, you moron._

I shifted uncomfortably. I haven't seen Wolfram all morning, after he followed Shouri out to help him with his chores. While I collected eggs and pulled out weeds, I kept thinking about Wolfram's expression. His voice. What he said.

I didn't believe in that whole love at first sight thing, so it was really weird that Wolfram would suddenly throw a love confession at my face like that. How was it possible that he would like me that much in such a short time? Wolfram was gorgeous, I found out I could feel lust towards him, and he had unexpectedly cute side to him, but that wasn't the same thing as love. I liked Wolfram, but I didn't want to spend rest of my life with him. I was willing to be his friend, but…

"…chan? Yuu-chan?"

"Huh?" I stupidly replied, and Mom puffed her cheeks.

"Contacts. What color?"

"Uh, brown. Like right now."

"You're so boring! Fine. I'll get some when I pick up Pu-chan's school uniform, okay?"

"Okay."

The doorbell rang, and I stood up. "I got it."

I opened the door and looked up at a handsome guy with brown hair and brown eyes. His smile looked friendly, but I didn't take the door chain off, just in case. "Yes?"

"Excuse me. My name is Conrad Weller," the man said. His smile deepened, showing off his dimple. "I'm looking for my brother, who ran away from home. My subordinate told me there was a boy here who matched his description."

Wow, that was fast. The guy didn't look anything like Wolfram, but who else could he be talking about? "Uh, what does your brother look like?" I asked, stalling for time. I wasn't sure if it was right thing to do, lying to Wolfram's family member who must be worried to death about him, but I just couldn't agree to an arranged marriage. That wasn't fair for Wolfram. But running away from home didn't seem like the right thing to do, either. I didn't know what to do, but I wasn't going to give Wolfram away in his absence.

"Blond, green eyes, average height. His physique is just about the same as yours." The man called Conrad gently said, "We're all very worried about Wolfram."

I hesitated, and then shook my head. "I, um, think you're mistaken… Maybe they thought Murata Ken was this… Er… Vorufu person. My friend is also blond with green eyes and he comes here all the time, you know, to hang out."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, that must be it."

The man studied me. I squirmed. It felt like he could see right through my lies, but he smiled again and nodded. "Then I must ask you to forgive me for taking up your time."

The man certainly didn't look like someone who'd marry off his unwilling baby brother to an old creepy geezer, and I thought I should talk to Wolfram once he came back when I noticed a blond walking towards our home. Conrad was facing me, so he couldn't see the approaching boy, but I felt panicked. Surely Wolfram would recognize his brother and turn back and hide?!

"Shibuya!"

Or not. Actually, great timing, Murata! Murata with his slightly wavy blond hair and green eyes walked towards us, cheerfully waving. I happily waved back, and Conrad turned to look at Murata. Murata and Conrad studied each other before they both smiled, and Conrad waved at me before he started his car and left.

While I was sighing with relief, Murata curiously looked after the car and then he turned to ask me, "What's Sir Conrad Weller doing here? He came to see Lord Bielefeld?"

How the heck does he know all these people?! You demon culture maniac…!;;;;;;;

"You know him?!"

"Well, he's the son of the demon queen, you know," Murata said, smiling. "And half-brother of Lord Bielefeld, whom you got engaged to recently. Humans aren't interested in demons, period, and vice versa, so you wouldn't know. But they're actually very famous people."

"Son of demon queen?! Wait, he's a prince?!" Another, even scarier realization hit me. "Wolfram is a prince?!!!"

"The crown prince," Murata cheerfully told me. "Close your mouth, Shibuya. A fly could get in if you open it that wide."

Wait, a crown prince? But didn't that mean…? "He's going to be the next king, then?" I asked, just to make sure. Murata shook his head.

"Actually, the current queen decided she wants to surrender the throne, and the ten nobles gathered together to ask the Original King if he'd approve of Lord Bielefeld ascending to the throne. To everyone's surprise, he flatly refused and said he chose someone else. The higher-ups are totally freaking out at the demon country right now." Murata smiled. His glasses glinted. "Just so you know."

Oh, shit. That meant…

"Hello, Older Brother of Shibuya," Murata happily said, waving. "Hi, Lord Bielefeld."

"Friend of Younger Brother! What are you doing here?" Shouri asked. I didn't know why Shouri was always so rude to Murata. I wondered where Wolfram was, before I realized that Wolfram was hiding behind Shouri. What was he doing?;;

"I was wondering if you'd let me try out your _SubaSeka_(1) if you're done playing it. I wanted to try it out before I buy my copy," Murata said. My brother immediately softened at mention of a game. If you'd just look at his outward appearance, objectively speaking my brother was a tall, handsome man, but he was a true _A-boy_(2) at heart.;;

"Come up to my room, then," a very mollified Shouri said, and Murata trailed after him. That left Wolfram and me alone. Wolfram avoided my eyes, fussing with the hem of his shirt.

"Wolfram, I met your brother," I said. That got his attention. "Conrad Weller came looking for you. I've talked to him, Wolf, and he seems like a really nice guy…"

"I do not acknowledge that man as my brother," Wolfram snarled, his green eyes flashing. "Gwendal is my respected elder brother."

"What are you talking about? Your older brother is your older brother, even if he acts like _hikikomori_(3) during summer vacations and play _eroge_(4) all day!" I scolded, and Wolfram cocked his head to one side. He looked really cute like that, but that aside.

"Hiki… komaru? What?"

"That's not important. Anyway, he seemed genuinely worried about you. I don't agree with arranged marriage either, but you're making your family really worried about you. This isn't the right way to solve your problems. You should talk to your brother, heart to heart, and I'm sure he'd understand, too."

"I've talked to Elder Brother," Wolfram said, staring at the ground. "Elder Brother said… that it is my duty. And… I know he's right. No matter how you look at it, the marriage is advantageous—nay, necessary. But I…"

"Marrying someone you don't like is not a duty," I said, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. "What about your other brother? He seemed really nice."

"Do you love him?!" Wolfram snapped, glaring at me. Uh... So why is this conversation going back to homosexual romance again?;;;;;;;;;

Choosing to ignore that question, I asked again, "Did you talk to your other brother?"

"Sir Weller doesn't really care about me," he replied, looking annoyed. I think Wolfram knew as well as I that that was BS. I mean, why would the guy come all the way out here to look for him if he didn't care about Wolf? "Anyway, who cares about what he thinks? He's not even an official noble, and he's a dirty half human…"

Wolfram trailed away and bit into his lips, and then said in a small voice, "Sorry."

"No, no offense taken. It's actually the demon side of my blood that's causing me problems, so I don't care." I smiled to reassure him, but Wolfram continued to search my face with troubled eyes. I guess he couldn't help being haughty. After all, he was a prince… "But that really makes me wonder why you, um, love me."

"I don't know." Wolfram took hold of my hand and put it over his chest. It was beating unbelievably fast, in a steady rhythm. "When I see you, my heart quickens up so much that it hurts…"

Oh, shit. That wasn't good. He looked so cute just now that it felt like my own heart stopped for a second before my heartbeat was trying to match Wolf's. Something stirred in my veins again. That sound uncannily like roar of waves filling my ears, that voice that was too deep to be mine shouting inside my head, the—

"Yuuri?"

Emerald eyes looked up at me in concern. Small fingers touched my cheek, and then my forehead.

"What's wrong? You look weird. And your eyes…?"

I shook my head. I felt dizzy, and there was that flashing light again. Wolfram touched my cheek again, using both of his hands to caress my skin, and his eyes widened.

"Your energy is fluctuating so much! Yuuri, this is dangerous! You don't know how to control your energy yet?" Without waiting for my answer, Wolfram tightly hugged me. Something got… sucked out of me? It sort of felt like that. As something was being sucked out, I started to feel better, but Wolfram started to look strange. His pupils dilated and then suddenly his eyes became almost blindingly bright. His skin paled even more than it already was until he looked deathly pale.

"Wolfram," I snarled. My voice was weird. I didn't sound this deep… I didn't snarl out my words like this! "Wolfram von Bielefeld, cease this immediately. Thou shall die!"

I lifted my hand to ease Wolfram away from me, but I was shocked to see long, sharp… claws? What the hell was happening to me?! I shook my head and found out that my short hair had turned into mane of a hair, trailing down to my shoulders in a mess of coal black hair. Hey, I just got the dye job done this morning! What was going on? More importantly, Wolfram was going to die! Fire element user cannot accept such huge amount of water element's power and be possibly safe!

Abruptly, as if pulling out a power plug, the power drained out of me and I stumbled. Wolfram collapsed and I fell on top of him. We both had trouble breathing, and poor Wolfram was violently trembling underneath me. I managed to roll off of him and then pulled him into my chest, holding him while he kept shaking, clutching at my shirt like a drowning kitten. After few minutes, I finally managed to breath easily again, even though my heart was still pounding too quickly for it to feel comfortable. Wolfram pulled away a little to look up into my face.

"Yuuri, what are you?" he asked. There was fear in his eyes, but also... something else. Awe? "Sir Weller has no magic what-so-ever, but you… I am considered a high ranking magic user, but I am nothing compared to you. I have only felt such power among the most advanced spell casters… What are you, Yuuri?"

I'd like to know, too.

"Just what are you supposed to be?"

I didn't say anything, because I didn't know what to say. I thought I should thank Wolfram for probably saving my life, but my thought was in such a jumble that I just kept staring at the child I was holding in my arms. Wolfram hadn't hesitated when he thought I was in danger, even though his own life had been in peril. This beautiful creature really loved me that much.

"Is it because you are double black, the owner of hair the color of midnight skies and onyx-colored eyes…?"

My body already knew how sweet he could taste, how good it would feel to kiss him. But that was wrong. I only felt lust towards him because of my stupid teenage hormones. To play around with someone who was as sincere as this, who was willing to die for me…

"Are you listening to me, Wimp? You have a really weird expression on your face." Wolfram started to laugh. His green eyes sparkled. Passing breeze played with tresses of his bright gold, silky hair lightly. I kissed his nose. Wolfram's laughter got cut off as his eyes widened, and then curved in a sweet, loving smile.

I didn't love him.

I held him close to me as I pressed my lips against the rose-colored lips, and felt his hands clutching at my back. The autumn sun felt warm on my back as I flipped him over and towered over him, kissing the sweet, smiling lips again and again.

[ To Be Continued ]  
(1) _The World Ends With You_. Copyrighted by Square Enix.  
(2) Akihabara Boy. _Otaku._ Maniac.  
(3) Someone who is terrified of outside world and locks himself/herself into his/her room all day. In worst cases, he has trouble even going to the store to buy food, as he thinks that people will laugh at him. This is currently a big social problem in Japan. Yuuri is, of course, jokingingly referring to his brother as one.  
(4) Erotic game.

Some of you expressed a concern that the previous chapter was a bit, ahem, strong. I apologize. I'll do a better job of editting next time... (laughs) And yes, this story is based more on the original novel than the animation, because the novel is more amusing.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, I did it. I googled "how to have homosexual sex."(1) Right now I'm feeling such deep self hatred that I'll probably never feel good about myself ever again. For the rest of my life. What was even worse was that it wasn't even very helpful.

"Shouri," I started, cautiously approaching my brother who was playing a game. It looked like a normal renai simulation(2) game, but who knows. When you least expect it, Shouri might clear the game and H CG(3) might suddenly fill the screen. Shouri gave me a disinterested look and I felt my cheeks heating up as I said, my voice progressively growing smaller towards the end, "How do gay men have sex?"

"What? Gay? You mean like Watarase Jun(4)?" Shouri asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Who the hell is… Okay, I don't want to know. "Why would you…"

Shouri suddenly leapt up from his seat and started to shout at me, "_Oniichan_ did not raise you to engage in reckless sex with someone you've known for only four days!"

"I'm not going to have sex with Wolf! I just want to know!" I shouted back. Shouri ogled at me and I wondered what the most painless way to commit suicide was. My older brother just accused me of… of wanting to do something with Wolf, and I've just admitted it!

After a long, awkward moment of silence, Shouri told me.

"WHAT?! Ewwwwww!!!!!!!"

He then found a condom he got from somewhere, put it on my hand, clenched my fingers around it, and ushered me out of his room and locked the door. I stood rooted to the spot, too flabbergasted with this new-found human creativity to do anything else but to imitate a goldfish.

My mom passed by me with her arms full of folded laundry, glanced at the condom I was clutching in my hand, and then gave me a dirty look.

You're WRONG, mom.

*****

I was washing my hands, not thinking of anything in particular except the baseball game I wanted to watch in the evening sports channel, when the water started to dance around my fingers. Little droplets of water were literally bouncing on tips of my fingers, and the water that haven't drained down the sink yet was swirling around like a tiny whirlpools. I quickly turned the water off and bit into my lips, staring at my fingers.

It was when this weird, surging feeling was rushing through me that I would be able to do weird things with water. Once, I was taking a bath and I teleported to the water fountain at the park near our house for some reason. Stalk naked. Luckily, it was night and I managed to come home without meeting anyone, but I never wanted to experience walking through the neighborhood in my birthday suit ever again. How would I explain to a police officer that I was not an exhibitionist pervert? Also, I started to speak really weird when I was feeling weird, in this historic drama-style that was really cheesy. Come to think of it, I sometimes spoke like that when I was doing naughty things with Wolf, too… I seriously needed to stop watching those historical dramas(5). (How many high school boys have the opening theme of a historical drama as their ringtone, anyway?)

I dried my hands and came out of the bathroom. Wolfram was waiting for me outside and clung to me as soon as he saw me, as if we haven't seen each other for the last five years instead of last five minutes.

"Did you finish your homework, Wolfram?" I asked, and Wolfram shook his head.

"I did math, physics and English, but the rest… I can't read it."

For some reason, Wolf was able to communicate with everyone, but he couldn't read a word of Japanese. He was good at English, but his pronunciation had harsh guttural accent to it, despite his voice being so soft and mellow. When I commented about this to Murata, the all-knowing demon mania friend of mine carelessly replied, "Oh, yeah, the demon country speaks German, don't they."

"So how come Wolf speaks Japanese?" I had asked, and Murata shrugged.

"He can't. His magic lets his meaning go directly to your head, and vice versa. So while you can understand each other and it feels like he's speaking your language, he actually isn't."

Where does Murata get this stuff anyway? Off of Wikipedia?

Anyway, Wolfram was really smart and while he was totally lost as far as Japanese literature and history were concerned, he had amazed our math and physics teacher, so he could help me out with those while I helped him with the remaining subjects. When I suggested this, Wolfram nodded and he held my hand so we could go upstairs and finish our homework together. After the kissing thing that happened yesterday, I somehow felt embarrassed about holding Wolfram's hand, but Wolfram's cheeks were such a pretty shade of pink that I couldn't refuse him.

"Now that we would get married soon," Wolfram started, smiling at me sweetly. My mind protested to this statement, but his smile totally sealed my lips. "You must learn basic history of our country, okay? Also, some politics and literature. You will be husband of future Lord of Bielefeld and a member of the noble family, so you must study those things."

"You are a prince, right?" I asked, and Wolfram looked surprised.

"Yes. Where did you hear that?"

"Murata."

"Oh." Wolfram's nose wrinkled. "You know, he reminds me of someone, but I just can't put my finger on it. I swear I saw his face somewhere before, though."

"Considering we all have generic Japanese male face…" I said, laughing, but Wolfram shook his head.

"No, someone in my family… He might have demon heritage just like you, Yuuri. Did you ever ask him?"

"No. That thought never crossed my mind." I opened the door for him. "But I can ask."

"He might even be my relation! And then he will be related to you by marriage, Yuuri."

I awkwardly laughed as I pulled out Wolf's chair for him, sat down, and opened my books. Wolfram perched next to me, opening his books and taking out his notebook. I watched him as he leaned over the desk. His hair had tumbled down and the clean, milky-white nape of neck was exposed. My heart started to beat fast. I wanted to kiss him. I knew that he wouldn't say no, but I also knew that that was taking advantage of someone who loved and trusted me. Why was I always so wishy-washy?! If I didn't want to marry him, I should tell him clearly, not just in the wimpy way that I whined and protested to Wolfram heart-heartedly! If I told him seriously, Wolfram would be hurt, but I knew that he would accept it. Wolfram was sweet and understanding like that. I hadn't known him for a long time, but even the few days I've spent with him were enough to tell me that.

"…ri. Aren't you going to read this for me?"

Big, clear green eyes crashed into mine. Wolfram curiously studied me, and then he cocked his head to one side and smiled up at me. Softly curling, bright yellow hair fell into his bright eyes. I lifted up a hand to brush it away, and Wolfram's cheeks dyed red as he stared at me. The seductive eyes were asking for a kiss.

I gave him one.

Keeping my hand buried in the silky, unbelievably soft hair, I leaned forward and reverently kissed his lips, as if worshipping it. The warm and soft lips succumbed to me. Before I knew it I was sucking at his lips, almost lunging at him in my hurry to taste him. I forced my tongue inside and the sweet lips easily parted to let me in. I knew I was clumsy, and sometimes our teeth knocked together in my inexperienced eagerness, but Wolfram made no indication of displeasure. Only laughing, softly shimmering green eyes were my world.

When we broke apart, both of us gasping for breath, Wolfram shivered as he clutched at my shirt. "What do I do, Yuuri?" Husky voice inquiringly said. "I love you more and more every single moment, so much that I scarcely know what to do. I want you to be happy. I'd do anything to make you happy."

I embraced Wolfram, so fiercely and tightly that Wolfram let out a muffled, small sound. It was weird. How could I feel such deep attachment to someone I've known for such a short period of time? I want you to be happy, too, Wolfram. I wish I could love you back. This feeling I have towards you… Exactly what is it?

"So stop being so nice to me…"

Shocked, I pulled away from him. Steady eyes gazed back at me. His expression suddenly crumpled and he smiled at me strangely. His lips were curved upwards into a smile, but his eyes were breaking my heart. It hurt. Something felt like it was breaking away from me, this…

Surging feeling…

"Dumb wimp." Wolfram suddenly smiled again, a real one this time, and pressed his forefinger against my forehead and slightly pushed me back. "Let's study. You're so stupid that it's going to take all night, so we might as well as get started, no?"

He turned away from me. The wavy locks of gold hair that I loved so much obscured my view of his face. I stared at my textbook, but the words just looked like black blobs smeared across white page. Something continued to throb and hurt.

*****

I was standing in the middle of a hallway that endlessly stretched out before me. The lights were dim, and I couldn't see the end of the hallway. I turned and looked. It continued endlessly at the back of me, too. The ends looked murky black, and it was musty. The plush carpet beneath my feet was a thick, blood-red material that must've been really expensive.

Why am I still wearing my shoes?!;;;;;;;;;

While I was freaking out about wearing shoes indoors, in the back of my mind, I was thinking that this place looked familiar. I was here before. That was when—

"Shibuya Yuuri."

A voice rang out. A mellow, tenor voice that sounded very pleasant seemed to be coming from all directions at once, and then the speaker materialized in front of me. I couldn't see his face. By dim light, what of his clothing I could see looked like the typical RPG royal robe. He even had the sword thing going on at his waist. Even though I couldn't see the man's face, somehow I knew that he was laughing.

"Have you not decided yet?"

Decide? But even if you say that, I'm just a normal high school kid, you know?! You can't just pop in front of me one day and tell me that I'm the next…

"Demon king you shall become, Shibuya Yuuri. But if you do not accept, I shall choose another candidate. Will you step forward and open the door? Or will you turn around and walk away?"

Suddenly I could see the door that was at the end of the hallway. It was strangely luminous. I turned back and I could see another door at the other end. That one strangely looked like… my bedroom door?

"But I'm just a normal high school student," I said, shaking my head. My voice was cracking from the tension. I coughed and continued, "I'm only half a demon. No one will like me. No one will listen to what I say! I'm not a king material… Wolfram would've been so much better!"

"Even if you refuse, I shall not offer the throne to Wolfram von Bielefeld. And if your intention, then, is to refuse, than you must hurry and inform the ten nobles. They are anxiously waiting for your response… There are many preparations that must be done to greet a new king, after all."

"The letter they sent me said I have a month to consider!"

"Which is nearly over. And you are not thinking seriously about my kingdom at all. You're just thinking about Wolfram von Bielefeld all day."

There was definitely amusement to his voice now. I felt myself getting red as I snapped, "As a matter of fact, it's a really big problem for me to decide if I want to be a gay man or not!"

"Oh, so you're seriously considering him." The man sounded even more amused now. "You are one indecisive man, Shibuya Yuuri."

"Well, excuse me," I sulkily muttered, but the man laughed. Huge, powerful hand heavily rested against my shoulder. He leaned closer. I could smell cool fragrance of his cologne, as well as musky scent of an adult man…

"No matter what your decision is, believe in yourself, Shibuya Yuuri. I, the Original King and First Creator, have chosen you. My choice is not wrong."

Sparkling blue eyes, thickly surrounded by long eyelash, met mine. They curved into a smile. Those eyes reminded me of someone else… Not clear color of the sky like this one, but lighter… Sweeter… Like bright green of a new forest…?

I snapped awake.

Something was feathering over my cheek, and then I realized that someone was brushing my hair back. There was muffled sound that I couldn't comprehend at first. As my conscious returned, the sound briefly jumbled into strange sounding words before they cleared.

"…know that you don't feel the same way. But please don't reject me yet…? Because I'll do my best to make you fall in love with me, Yuuri. I won't be able to stand it if I don't even get a chance to do that. I'll be so good to you…"

The voice sounded squeezed out, as if he was trying not to cry. Wolfram was snuggled against me, his cheek against my chest. The frilly white night tie, accented by pink ribbons, made him look ridiculously small and childish. I felt crushed. Exactly what was I trying to do? Unless Wolfram was a moron (which he was not, unlike yours truly), he would realize that I didn't love him. I told him that many times, even though it always seemed like Wolfram was just ignoring it. But all this time those words had crushed him, and he felt insecure, and he had been pretending not to notice when I rejected him because it broke his heart…

"Wolfram?"

"What, Wimp?" Wolfram sharply asked, his tone absolutely changing. He defiantly glared up at me when I searched his face for traces of tears. I found none, to my relief. "Why are you calling me in the middle of the night? Some people are trying to sleep here!"

And all this time I thought tsundere(6) only existed among moe(7) characters.

I took hold of his hand. Even though we had about same physique (I think I'm taller by like 2cm… maybe 3?), his hands were so small and delicate, compared to mine that was all calloused from playing baseball. I lifted up the hand and lightly kissed the back of it.

"……….!!!!!"

Wolfram was doing a good imitation of a bright red, freshly boiled octopus. He opened his mouth and started to say something, stopped, blushed harder, and then opened his mouth again.

"Give me some time, Wolfram? I love you like a baby brother I never had—" Wolfram's eyes curved upwards like a displeased cat and he opened his mouth, but I continued. "And I love kissing you, and… and doing naughty things with you. I really care about you a lot. But I never loved before, and… I'm just really confused whether it's all hormones and stuff. If I think that it's not possible for me to have the same feelings that you do, I'll tell you right away. So… okay?"

That was the best I could do for now…

Wolfram, however, looked smug.

"So I'm your first love?"

"Not yet," I said, feeling cold sweat running down, but Wolfram just gave me another one of his superior look. You know the look your pet kitten gives you, when she manages to coax a cat treat from you right before her dinner?

"So you're a virgin." I was about to snap something along the lines of, well, not everyone is a beautiful lady-killer like you!, but Wolfram continued, "Like me."

He suddenly became all shy and coy as he looked up at me and almost whispered, "We're going to be first experience for each other. That's so special, Yuuri."

I nearly bit my tongue. Wolfram, who was snuggled against me and had his thigh against my crotch, looked surprised, and then blushed as he avoided my eyes. Oh, that wasn't good, that wasn't good at all… I needed to go to the bathroom. Immediately.

But when I tried to pull away from Wolfram, he softly said in that mellow voice of his, "Are you going to touch yourself, Yuuri?"

When I stared at him with bright red face, he wordlessly shifted. Our eyes met and Wolfram blushed harder. He clutched at my shirt so I wouldn't run away. He whimpered. His green eyes were wavering, hazing in the shocks of pleasure. His fingers were trembling as he started to loosen my pajama buttons. The plum candy fragrance was thickly coming from Wolfram, and I nuzzled against his neck where the scent was strongest.

"I really like this perfume you're using, Wolf. What is it? Sort of smells like Victoria Secret's Pure Seduction or whatever it was called."

My mom uses it. Stop looking at me like I'm a freak or something for knowing a Victoria Secret perfume by name.

Wolfram softly laughed, and I felt the rumble of his neck where I had my nose buried. He was fondly patting my hair. It felt really good.

"Silly Yuuri. I'm not using a perfume. The smell is just... me. My scent. You smell good to me, too. Sort of like milk and lemon."

But we don't have lemon anything. Not soap, not shampoo, not conditioner, not body wash…

"Demons use scent to identify each other, so I'm so happy that you like my scent."

"Identify? You mean like driver's license?" I asked, confused, and Wolfram gave a fresh peal of laughter.

"No, to find potential mating partners, about their age and readiness and health. For making babies." Wolfram pulled away a little to look into my eyes, fond smile on his lips. "You liking my scent just means you want to make me pregnant. It's perfectly normal. Don't worry too much about it."

…………

……………………

……………………………..;;;;;;;;;;;;; Just what the fuck is perfectly normal about wanting to make a man pregnant?!!!!!!!;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

[To Be Continued]  
(1) If you're curious, you can actually see the google result at my homepage. But a typical smutty BL comic is about a million times more helpful. (..........)  
(2) Romance Simulation Game. You're the major male or female character and you "date" other characters within the story.  
(3) Pornographic pictures (...........)  
(4) A crossdressing, very pretty gay boy from pornographic game called "Happiness". You can not "clear" him (i.e., have sex with him), but thanks to fans' support(......) he became available character later, too. Created by Windmill.  
(5) Please look up "jidaigeki" at Wiki for more info. Teenagers typically are not extremely fond of this genre.  
(6) A person who goes all 'tsun tsun!' (huffy huffy) outside but is all 'dere dere' (sweet sweet) inside. Think candies that are sour outside, but sweet inside.  
(7) Maniac inducing.


	6. Chapter 6

Wolfram wasn't by my side when I woke up, and I looked around my room in confusion. His side of the bed was still warm. I rubbed my eyes, and then crawled down from my bed to search for him before I realized what I was doing.

Only a week ago, it was perfectly normal for me to wake up by myself. Only within a week, he had changed me so much that I felt anxious when I woke up alone. It felt like something really important was missing when I didn't wake up to soft blond hair against my cheek, the bright green eyes smiling up at me, the gentle voice chirping "good morning, Yuuri" as the pink lips pecked at my lips.

I stood still in the middle of my room for few minutes, feeling nausea washing over me. Sudden fear made my hands clammy and cold. I clenched and unclenched my hands, biting into my lips. He was already such an important part of my life, yet I did not love him. Just how many pieces of me would he replace if I let him into my heart? Did I still have control of my feelings towards him, or was it too late already?

Shit, Shibuya Yuuri. Wake up. This is a boy you're talking about. It's already weird enough that touching him gives you hard-on's. I'm a perfectly normal high school student who enjoys jacking off to a good Aoi Sora(1) AV just as much as the next guy. Right.

But soon after I met Wolfram, I was not fantasizing about huge, deep coffee-colored eyes of Sora-neesan when I was masturbating. I was thinking about bright green eyes of Wolfram. Did my head become weird from a guy following me around, chanting 'I love you', that I'm confused into thinking that I love another man? Or was it just hormonal thing that made me want to hump against anything that walked on two feet and wore a skirt, like I have been insisting all this time? Or could I possibly…

The thought was too scary to consider and I lightly slapped my cheeks with my hands before stepping out of my room.

Not finding Wolfram in the bathroom, I walked down to the living room. Rustling sounds came from the kitchen. I headed there, figuring that I would say good morning to mom before I resumed my search. But my search ended as soon as I stepped into the kitchen, since the object of my search was looking into the oven with intense concentration.

"Good morning, Wolf."

"Morning Yuuri," Wolfram replied, turning to smile at me. The gem-like eyes were enough to melt anyone's heart. It should be illegal for anyone, especially one of a male persuasion, to be this beautiful. "I woke up earlier than you today."

I noticed that Wolfram slept a lot. As in, almost ten hours a day. I think I could find kindergarteners that slept less than he did. Wolfram sounded so proud of his waking up early that I patted his head, and his eyes narrowed in pleasure. It might be because he was a prince and he had been locked up in a castle all his life, but there was just something so innocent about him sometimes. He was whimsical and he did whatever that pleased him; and he was fickle and he got mad so easily. But everything about him was loveable, like a spoiled but very sweet child.

"We have physical examination today, right? So I thought I would make you lunch that would fill you with energy," Wolfram excitedly said. I felt touched that someone who loved to sleep as much as Wolfram got up early just to make me something. I would've been happy just with convenience store's rice balls or something, but… What was that in the oven? …Steak?;;

I leaned over Wolfram's shoulder to look into the oven. Soft golden curls brushed against me. Something that looked like a steak but was not (it was shaped weird) was cooking in the oven, along with something green (broccoli?). I stepped closer and tripped. I grabbed onto Wolfram for support, and he stumbled but stood his ground.

"Oh, sorry," I apologized, but Wolfram didn't reply. Figuring he was really mad about how clumsy I was (something was boiling in the stove, too, so we could've really gotten hurt), I started to apologize again, but Wolfram turned his head to glare at me half-heartedly.

"Yuuri, you pervert," he said. He glanced down at my hand and I followed his eyes to look at my own hands, placed over Wolfram's chest. Well, yeah, if Wolfram had been a girl, I wouldn't have been able to say anything even if he had slapped me. But Wolfram was a boy, so except for an exasperated sigh, he didn't say anything. He just moved to stir the boiling something (which was purple, for some reason).

The movement exposed the clean nape of his neck. Wolfram spoiled me by letting me touch him whenever I wanted, so I kissed his neck, knowing he wouldn't protest. I knew I was the worst for taking advantage of Wolf's body even though I wasn't even sure if I loved him back. I knew that, but I couldn't stop. Once I tasted him, once I touched him, I kept yearning for more.

"Yuuri, I'm trying to cook," Wolfram grouched, but he whimpered cutely when I fondled his chest. My teeth grazed against his neck. I felt drunk with the sweet creature in my arms. Wolfram kept letting out little mewls and protests, trying to twist away from me.

"Yuuri, later… It's going to burn," Wolfram whined. At this point I didn't really care about that. I wanted to make-out with him. I would've turned him around and had my way with him if I didn't hear something crash behind me.

Both Wolfram and I turned around. My father and Shouri were staring at us. A cup that had been smashed to smithereens lay at Shouri's feet, along with dad's newspaper that he must have dropped. We gawked at each other for few moments before Dad gently asked, "Are you two using condoms?" at the same time that Shouri shouted, "_Oniichan_ did not raise you to engage in reckless and unsanitary behavior like having sex in the kitchen!"

"We're not… I'm not…!" I shouted back. My cheeks heated up. Hey, Wolfram, don't just stand there blushing prettily! Deny it, damn it! Help me out!;;;;;;;;;

Mom chose that moment to breeze into the kitchen, brightly asking, "Who's having sex in the kitchen?"

Before anyone replied, she cheerfully added, "Isn't something burning?"

Wolfram yelped and dove for the oven, while I ran over to the stove.

*****

It was a good thing that everyone's attention had been taken up with the burnt food so that we didn't discuss that whole sex-in-the-kitchen incident further, but we were running a little late for school since we had to clean everything up before we left. Wolfram pouted and complained first few days when we walked to school, but for a spoiled prince he walked amazingly well. Even now, as we were running, he easily kept up with my speed. But he did fuss as usual. The unusual thing was that he was not complaining about having to walk to school today.

"Stupid, shameless Yuuri. Pervert. And I worked so hard, too. Why couldn't you have saved it for tonight?" Wolfram whined as we ran. "Just when I thought I'd feed my husband some real food. It all burned up and we had to throw it away and I woke up at 5 to make it!"

Five?!;;;;;;

"It takes that long to cook?" I worriedly asked, feeling guilty. And I had been more interested in taking advantage of him than the dish he had worked so hard to make. What an insensitive jerk.

"No, it doesn't take that long, but it takes a long time to catch the frog."

Catch the what?

"And collect the mosquito eyeballs."

Collect the _what_?

"And find the just right-sized centipede. Your mother's cooking is excellent, but she doesn't feed you delicacies like that."

Thank you, my passed away grandma. I knew you were watching over me from the heavens. Thank you for letting what Wolfram was cooking burn up, even though I do feel bad about his hard work going to waste.

Wolfram brooded for few more moments, and then he suddenly said, "Does it cost a lot to attend your academy? I don't know if it will be enough, but I did bring some money."

"It's good enough that you passed the exam. It's free, so don't worry about it," I said. The passing breeze felt good against my cheek. My back started to feel sweaty from the warm ray of late autumn sun, so I slowed down to a jog and Wolfram matched the pace with me.

"Liar." The breeze mussed up his hair and made the curly locks tumble over his eyes messily. He tucked it behind his ear. "It's only open to royalties and nobles, isn't it?"

What nobles?;;;;; Can't you tell by the _gakuran_? It's a perfectly standard, public school!;;;;;;;

"Or else the uniform cannot be such beautiful black color." Wolfram paused to admire his _gakuran_, which did look good on his slender body, but the uniform itself was nothing impressive. It was the same thing that tens of thousands of other boys were wearing at the moment. What was up with this boy and his fixation with the color black?

"Actually… a lot of schools that have this uniform are public. Do you remember what Murata was wearing? The suit-like uniform? That's the private one. The blazer uniform is the one that is worn by kids whose families are better-off." I smiled a little and said, "Bankers don't earn THAT much, silly Wolfram."

Wolfram blinked, and then he slowed down to a walk. He stared at his uniform, and then he stared back at me. Then he nodded and said, "I will support you, Yuuri. Don't worry."

"We're not THAT poor, either!;;;;; Anyway, I'm going to get a job when I grow up, so don't worry!;;;;;;"

Come to think of it, my job might be "Demon King". I wonder what my guidance counselor will say when he nicely asks, "So, Shibuya, what is your dream career? Which colleges to you want to apply to?" and I reply, "I'm thinking of freelancing as a Demon King. What do you think?"

I wouldn't blame the man even if he calls the lunatic asylum...

We walked together for few more minutes in a comfortable silence. The leaves were already very pretty, dyed into blazing crimson, saffron and sepia. The clear morning air smelled a little spicy, and the leaves made rustling noises as we walked. The train of thought led me to ask, "What do you think about the new demon king? You know, the one that will soon succeed your mother?"

"How do you know about that?"

I was started at the frigid tone of voice. I turned to look at Wolfram. An expression I had never seen before was plastered across his face. His eyes were glowing fiercely, the pupils very black at the center. His lips had drained of color, and he spat out again, "Who told you that?"

"Murata?" I offered. Sorry, Murata. Wolfram turned even paler. He wordlessly continued to walk. His coloration reminded me of a porcelain doll. Unlike before, the silence felt uncomfortable. He finally stopped walking and turned to look at me. His eyes were filled with passion, different kind of passion than I ever saw in his eyes. For the first time, I felt a little frightened of Wolfram.

"In answer to your question," he said, smiling strangely. His normally mellow, soft voice had become harsh, and he grinded out his words between his teeth. "If I ever meet the unfortunate son of a bitch, I will kill him."

His eyes told me that he was dead serious.

*****

"…then you continue to make that box smaller and smaller in your mind. You concentrate on rough shape of what you want your element to be… Yuuri? Are you paying attention?"

Wolfram pinched me and I yelped. I looked at his angry eyes and felt cold sweat running down my back. Before, when he was pissed, I was no more afraid of him than I would be of an angry kitten, but now I was a little scared of him. If he knew that I was offered the position of a demon king, would he still spare my life?

Would he still love me?

The latter thought bothered me a lot. More than Wolfram's threats to kill me, it upset and annoyed me that he might fall out of love with me. I held his cheeks and he angrily said, "Don't try to worm out of this with your good-looks, you no-good husband! You think you can get away with anything just because you're cute! What am I going to do with a husband who can't even control his magic? I shall be laughed out of the court!"

"Wolfram, do you love me?"

"Don't change the topic, Wimp!" Wolfram thundered. But his bright red face was more than enough to tell me the truth. It had been such a short time. When we were reading _Romeo and Juliet_ at school, I thought it was the most pathetic book I have ever read. I mean, these teens fell in love after only few hours together? And they secretly marry, and have sex, and die, all in a week or so? Excuse me? Not to mention, Romeo had loved some other chick right before he met Juliet. Indecisive, fickle loser.

That was before I learned of the beautiful, sweet person who was standing before me. I haven't known that it was possible to feel this kind of anxiety, fondness, sadness and uncertainty. I haven't known that a person could exist that could make my heart so light, yet throb with pain, all at the same time. I haven't met Wolfram von Bielefeld and learned what love felt like.

"Would you love me no matter what happens?"

Anger banished from Wolfram's face and he looked worried at my serious tone. He lifted his hands to touch my hands, which were encircling his cheek. When he spoke, his voice was serious, too.

"My life is yours to take, Shibuya Yuuri."

I suddenly became really, really mad. What was wrong with him? He was always talking about claiming him, and his duty, and sacrificing himself for my sake. What the hell was that? That wasn't love!

"I don't want your life!" I snapped, and hurt filled Wolfram's eyes. He tried to pull away from me. I held onto him and said, "What the hell is that? Your life is mine to take? How do you think I'll feel if you die for me, huh? You think I'll be happy about it?"

Wolfram looked shocked. He stopped struggling. I felt pathetic as I muttered, "I don't want you to sacrifice yourself. For me, or for anyone. I want you to live for yourself from now on. Think about your happiness, Wolfram. Stop thinking about duty, and giving yourself up for someone else's pleasure or needs. Anyone has the right to be happy, and to live for himself."

A world without Wolfram. A world in which Wolfram had died for my sake. Just thinking about it made my eyes fill with tears that I hurriedly blinked away. I felt so pissed, yet it hurt so much that I couldn't breathe. Wolfram wasn't some kind of object; he was a living, breathing, very intelligent and beautiful human being that I loved the most in the world. What kind of fucked up country makes a boy continuously vow to give himself up for other people's sake? He was just a kid, like me!

"Be happy, Wolf…"

I shuddered. Strange energy filled me again, and I knew I looked weird again. Wolfram worriedly stretched out a hand, but I snarled, "No. Thou shall not put thyself in danger."

"But I'd hate it even more if you were in danger!" Wolfram yelled back, stomping his foot. "I'm the happiest when you're happy, and safe, and being your usual wimpy self!"

I smiled, even though every one of my muscles hurt. Wolfram's eyes have always been at the same level as mine, but somehow I had to look down to meet his eyes. My long hair tickled the nape of my neck. I took a deep breath and said, "I shall be fine."

I will not lose control as long as you're with me, Wolfram. I will use this power only to protect you. I heard someone laughing loudly in my ears, the sound ringing and echoing. I took another deep breath, struggling to control the surging, wildly fluctuating power within me.

_Very well, then, Shibuya Yuuri._

It suddenly felt like the powers grew smaller and smaller, in shape of something that looked like a box. The energy that had ran wild in my veins felt tamed down. Like I could reach into the box and use up as much as I would like to. It felt… controlled.

Wolfram, who was looking at me with concerned eyes, suddenly smiled in relief and said, "Yes, that's it, Yuuri. A box. Don't let it run rampant."

I nodded. I knew then that I had finally learned how to control my powers.

*****

After the training and doing homework, as well as studying for an upcoming test, both Wolfram and I felt tired. While Wolfram was taking a bath, I sat at the kitchen table and shelled peas with mom. Mom asked me about school and I told her it was okay. As a matter of fact, Wolfram explained everything in such an easy way that I was sure I was going to ace the next physics exam, but I left that as a pleasant surprise for her later.

"Is Pu-chan your boyfriend?" She suddenly asked. Her berry-brown eyes met mine. "Do you really love him?"

I knew my parents were really liberal and understanding, but I still felt uncomfortable telling my mother that her son became gay. I hesitated, and mom smiled. "He's very pretty, isn't he. And he's a good boy."

"Yes, he is."

We silently shelled peas. And then my mom continued, "Uma-chan told me that he was a prince."

"Uh-huh."

"You saw how he treated me when we first met, didn't you? Most people are going to react like that to you, Yuuri. No matter if you're going to be together with Pu-chan, or if you're going to be the next demon king, or even both. You're half a human, and you're also a commoner. People will say hurtful things."

I looked at her in surprise and she smiled back. I hadn't known it had bothered her. She acted like she didn't notice what Wolfram had said, but thinking back… of course she heard those words before. She married dad. And what did her parents say about her marrying a demon? I knew she never called grandpa, even though she had talked to grandma often before she died. I have never met my grandparents from either side of my family. Did she cry, and get hurt, when people said hurtful things about her being a human? About my father being a demon?

"But no matter what people say, remember that Mama and Papa are always on Yuu-chan's side. We will always love you no matter what."

I stopped shelling peas and looked at mom. She put down her pea and looked back at me. The affection in her eyes made me believe that she could make everything turn out okay, just like the time when I was still a small child.

"Mom, I want to become the demon king. I know it won't be easy, but… I want to do something about how demons look down on humans, and vice versa. In the future, I never want someone like you… or me… to be hurt because of whom they choose to love."

Also, I wanted to change the rules so that Wolfram could be happy, so that he didn't have to sacrifice himself and marry someone he didn't want. So that he didn't have to run away from home and be sad from choosing between his family, and his freedom to love. With my own hands, I wanted to protect Wolfram's smile.

"I want to change the world, Mom. So I'm going to do my best."

"Do your best, Yuu-chan," Mom said. I finally managed to smile back at her, and she lightly said, "How about Pu-chan?"

"I love him."

"Oh." Her eyes narrowed in laughter. "Wait until Uma-chan hears about this."

"Is he homophobic, by any chance?" I worried asked, and then mom really burst out laughing.

"Yuu-chan, your Papa is a demon!"

Oh. Oh, yeah. That's good, then.  
Now all that remained was for me to inform Wolfram himself.

Speaking of the devil, Wolfram came into the kitchen and told me, "The bath is free."

"Oh, okay. Thanks." I stood up to take a bath while Wolfram took my seat at the table and pulled the basket of peas closer to himself. He started to shell them.

"Mother, did you say you wanted to go shopping tomorrow?"

"Yes, Pu-chan. Let's go look at winter sale items, and then get something yummy to eat and catch a movie before we come home."

"Oh, there's this movie I really wanted to watch…"

I smiled at the two people whom I loved, and left.

*****

"Yuuri, I wanted to watch the other one," Wolfram complained as we snuggled together on the sofa, watching a baseball game. "This one's boring. I want to watch the one where they kick the ball around."

"Soccer?"

"Yeah, that one. This one is too hard to understand. And nothing's going on."

"Wolfram, it's the ninth inning with fully loaded bases and clean-up batter at the plate!" I protested, and Wolfram gave me a blank look. "It's nearly over, so let's watch it?"

"Okay."

Even though I jokingly called him "Wagamama Pooh", he was actually pretty fast on giving up… he was spoiled, but definitely not selfish. He was just used to getting his way in everything. But that couldn't be helped, I guess. He was the crown prince, and the baby of the family on top of that…

"Do you like shopping, Wolfram?" I asked. I was curious about that. Wolfram was the first boy I met who actually seemed to enjoy shopping. He always trailed after mom when she was going somewhere to shop. To my surprise, Wolfram shook his head.

"Not really… I don't hate it, but it's kind of boring."

"Then why are you always going with mom?"

"My mother never had a daughter. She didn't have anyone to go with her to shop with, to chat with, to do… you know, girl stuff. So I always went with her to look at pretty clothes with her, and do everything with her that a daughter would. Because she would feel so lonely by herself." Wolfram turned to look at me. "All this time, your mother went shopping by herself, and tried on clothes all by herself, and watched chick flicks by herself. She was probably waiting for you guys to bring home a cute daughter-in-law so she could do all the girl things with her. I won't be as good as a girl would have been, but I would never let Mother ever feel lonely again."

Wolfram softly smiled. "I'll be good to her, Yuuri."

Forgetting all about baseball, I held this unbelievably sweet, thoughtful child in my arms. I never even though about something like that. "Thank you," I whispered, and Wolfram nodded. "I'll be good to your mother too," I added, and Wolfram nodded again.

"I have something to tell you, so come upstairs with me."

"But your baseball…"

"Whatever."

We said good night to everyone and went up to our room. I locked the door and Wolfram looked at me curiously. I turned to face him.

"Listen, Wolf."

He nodded. I took a deep breath. Don't wimp out now, Shibuya Yuuri.

"I think we're way too young to be thinking about marriage now."

Wolfram tensed and I realized that it sounded like prelude to rejecting him. Good going, Yuuri. Great job. I felt even more nervous, but I took a deep breath and continued. "So… Let's get married when I'm eighteen. Until then… I love you, and I want to make love to you." I searched Wolfram's stunned face. Was it a good sign, or a bad sign? My legs were threatening to collapse underneath me. "Can I?"

"Stupid… Perverted… WIMP!" Wolfram screeched, and I flinched. Wolfram's face became bright red and he stammered, "D-don't… ask… for permission for stuff… like that! What… do you think?! I've already… When we first met…"

Oh yeah. Completely forgot about that.

I picked him up and he hid his face on my shoulder. He was about the same height as I am, so I thought I wouldn't be able to lift him, but he was ridiculously light. It was short walk to the bed. I put him down and took a strand of his hair and kissed the tip. Unlike my hair that was all thick and tough and black, his hair was so thin and soft. I kissed his forehead, then his nose, followed by his lips. Wolf easily gave in and we collapsed on the bed together, messily kissing and sucking on each other's lips. Wolfram fumbled with my pajama buttons, and when I bit his shoulder, the hand clutched at my shirt.

"Yuuri…"

I untied the ribbons and his night gown easily fell apart. Creamy skin glowed in the moonlight. I wanted to turn on the lights so I could see him better, but I had a feeling that Wolf would violently protest to that.

*****

"Wolf… Does it still hurt?" I gently asked. "I'm going to bring some medication, so be a good boy and sit still, okay?"

Wolfram turned his head to look at me. I was surprised to see tears in his eyes. "Wolf?! Did it hurt that much?!" I asked, getting really worried now, but Wolfram shook his head. And then he bit into his lips.

"Sorry, Yuuri," he said in a small voice. Sorry? I'm the one who should be sorry! Because I'm a stupid wimp, I couldn't even have sex right and made him hurt!

"I'm a soldier, and I can't even handle a little pain like this…"

"A little pain?! Wolfram, you're bleeding like crazy!" I snapped, and then I added in a more gentle tone, "I'm the one who should be sorry. I'll be right back with medicine."

Wolfram hid his face in pillow and nodded. Feeling depressed, I left to get the medicine we use for minor cuts, hoping that would be enough. I somehow had the feeling that the doctor will not be exactly nice if I showed up with Wolfram in my armsand explained how he had gotten hurt.

[To Be Continued]  
(1) Adult video actress. She's very pretty! ^/////^


	7. Chapter 7

Shimmering green eyes flashed in a gradient of light green, the color of a new leaf, all the way to deep viridian that nearly shone black. Orchid-colored lips that curved into a smile looked petal-like and just as soft. When he leaned over, sunlight caught his hair and it flashed into platinum blonde, the delicate strands glowing until they looked nearly transparent. I couldn't stop watching Wolfram.

Wolf was playing with one of Fuu's kittens. Fuu was a cheese-tabby cat with white throat, belly and socks. The litter she had this time were black, brown and white kittens, former two being males and the white runt of the litter being the only female. We assumed that the gigantic black tom that roamed near our place was her husband, but who knows. Wolfram himself didn't look that different from green-eyed, white-furred kitten he was playing with, especially when his eyes lit up every time the kitten pawed at his hand in an attempt to get at the yarn he was holding.

He must have sensed my gaze, since he looked up and excitedly informed me, "Yuuri, she cries like a _jomosagori_ dragon!"

Dragon? As in, the huge lizard that eats knights and stuff? The favorite guest appearance of fairy tales?

"Even though she looks like a _neguroshinomayakishi _without wings."

Is that how you say "cat" in German?;;

Before I puzzled it out, Wolfram gently shooed the kitten away in the direction of the mama cat and straightened himself. He turned to look at me, and his smile was wiped out by an annoyed frown. I wondered what I did wrong this time.

"Wimp Yuuri!"

"Er, yes, Mr. Wolfram?" I asked, nervously watching the blonde stalking towards me. He lifted up a hand. _I'm against violence!_ I shouted in my mind, flinching. Instead of hitting me, though, he grabbed the collar of my jacket and started to fuss with it, smoothing my shirt down and tucking my hair back. He seemed satisfied after few minutes of straightening me out, as he gave my shirt a final pat.

"There! Now you're presentable. Can't you even dress yourself properly without my help?" He haughtily asked. I think that was a rhetorical question. "Let's go if you're ready."

"Are you sure you want to go? I thought you didn't like baseball."

"Are you kidding me? Who knows what kind of loose wench you'll pick up if I'm not there to guard you?" Wolfram asked, arching a shapely eyebrow. I've never even picked up a 10-yen coin, much less a girl, but there was no point in explaining this to Wolfram.

I knew Wolfram was pretty, and from the way our classmates were all drooling over him, I knew that I wasn't the only one who found him absolutely gorgeous. But it was amazing how Wolfram, who always gushed over how handsome I was, was completely oblivious to his own beauty. Passing cars stilled to a stop, passerby's tripped over their own shoes, bikes crashed onto electric poles, babies stopped crying and people stopped what they were doing to openly stare at the princeling.

And Wolfram's response to this was a hostile glare in my direction and to mutter something about "no-good, cheater of a husband who only looked hot" under his breath.

I felt very indignant about this injustice.

We soon arrived at the empty lot near my house. Because baseball was no longer in season, we only practiced in the mornings and did not have intense afterschool practices as we would have during spring and summer. But a lot of my friends and I gathered to play baseball after school, and Wolfram had insisted on tagging along. I introduced Wolf to my friends, as some of them were not in my class and some were from different schools. He was polite enough, but he ignored the mushy looks that my friends threw at him and quickly retreated to the bench to watch us practice.

"Did you see the new pitcher that Sakura Jyosui got?" Takaya said, sighing as he tossed the ball to me. I caught it easily and tossed it back to him. "Man, they already have two really good pitchers, but this new one throws mean forkballs. And his speed is good, too. Aren't they satisfied with soccer alone?"

"At least you guys at Nishiura got Ren with that killer control of his. We're totally screwed. Our team hadn't had a decent pitcher in the last three years, according to the coach. I'd be happy with even one good pitcher; I won't even ask for a back-up."

At that Takaya gave me a smug look and I nearly threw the ball at his face, not at his glove. It kind of sucked to be a catcher if there was no pitcher to form a proper battery. Our line-up was pretty good, but during defensive innings, our opposing team wiped the floor with us.

"Yuuri!" Wolfram called, and I glanced over to where he was sitting. He had finished the ice cream I had bought him to keep him quiet. "I'm bored! I want to do beis…ball thing, too!"

Takaya glanced at Wolfram, shrugged, gave his glove to me and went off to practice batting with Azusa. I gave the glove to Wolfram when he came over to stand next to me, but I told him, "You can't ruin this because this is Takaya's, okay?"

Wolfram nodded and I put the glove on for him. He lightly moved his hand, testing the weight and feel of the glove. "I throw the ball at your glove, Yuuri?"

"Yes, we're just practicing that right now. Do you want to try?"

Wolfram nodded again. I backed away until there was some distance between us, and then I held out my gloved hand. "Anytime you're ready, Wolf!"

Wolfram lifted his hand, got into the most beautiful, clean pitching position I had ever seen in real life, and threw the ball at me. It sliced through the air in a graceful arc before landing on my glove with such force that I nearly dropped it. I hadn't expected such speed and power, nor that kind of control. I stared at Wolfram. He stared back at me.

"…Did I do something wrong?" Wolfram asked, and I tossed the ball back to him. He missed and went off to retrieve it. My mind was in a daze. The ball couldn't be slower than 130 km/hr, and I barely moved my glove to catch it. With a pitcher like that, if he got the right training, we might even be able to make it to _koushien_ (National high school baseball championship)!

Must not hyperventilate, Yuuri.

"Have you ever played ball sport before?" I asked, trying not to sound too excited. "Would you like to join our team when spring comes around? We can form a battery, Wolf!"

"The only sports I've played were what you humans call tennis and golf," Wolfram said, looking at me curiously. "What's a Bet Henry? I've copied what I saw on TV, but… Did I do okay, then?"

"I'll explain to you later, but that was an awesome straight, Wolfram!"

Wolfram continued to observe me, and then slowly, a pleased smile rose to his lips. He seemed to realize that I was properly impressed. He proudly said, "Of course I'm good at throwing balls. My fireballs are famous for never missing their target."

"…………That's nice," I said, my smile slowly vanishing, but Wolfram's eyes further narrowed in a smile. He beckoned with his hand and I got closer to him. He leaned over to whisper in my ear.

"Have you grown to like me more?" I tried to turn my head to look at him, but he kept his hand on my shoulder. "If it will help you like me more, I'll do anything you say, Yuuri. Be a kettle, pot, pitcher, anything."

"It's not that kind of pitcher," I said, pulling away from him. I tried not to, but I couldn't help laughing a little at his childishness. "And I'll still like you even if you don't want to be a pitcher. You don't stop loving someone just because they don't do everything you want them to. Would you stop loving me if you asked me to do something, but I refused?"

Wolfram seemed to think, and then he shook his head. "But I love Yuuri, so I want to do things that would please you. Your happiness is my happiness."

"Batting practice!" Yuuichirou called out, and our conversation stopped there.

*****

By the time we were heading home, the sun was starting to set. The sky was dyed into brilliant shades of crimson and gold. Warm light soaked into Wolfram, casting sharp shadows and causing flashes of light to shine across his delicately shaped face. I was sweaty and tired, and so was Wolfram, but we were holding hands while we were walking home, and I felt light and happy. After I screwed up last night, Wolfram couldn't run, but even though he limped a little he didn't complain. Instead, when he caught me staring at him, his eyes softened into a gentle smile.

I dragged him into the nearest corner I could find and kissed him. I couldn't help it. Hiding in the shadows of someone's brick fence, we shared chaste kiss, one after another. I cupped his cheeks as I gently sucked at his lower lip, and his hands fisted my shirt. After a little while I let him go. He slowly pulled away from me, his lips slightly swollen and glistening in the setting sun. He stayed quiet as he stared at me. His eyes were murky. He looked away as if I was blinding.

"I thought love was a luxury…"

I almost didn't catch his voice that sounded more like a sigh than spoken dialogue. He lightly rested his forehead against my shoulder, and then slowly hugged me. I held him as he continued in a muffled voice.

"I knew I would be used in a political marriage. I didn't have a problem with it. But as my engagement date was approaching, I was suddenly terrified… I didn't want to become someone else's pretty doll, like her. I know that's all I am, and that's all I'll ever be, but for once in my life…" He lifted his face and smiled at me painfully. "I wanted someone to look directly at me with clear eyes like yours and tell me… That I…"

He suddenly stopped and embraced me more tightly until it nearly hurt.

"Wolfram is Wolfram. I like you because you're Wolfram," I replied, and Wolfram suddenly barked out a laugh. It sounded harsh and forced. I didn't know how to comfort him. It's true that he was pretty, but his sweetness, his sincerity, his loyalty, his fierce passion, his innocence… Everything about him made my heart throb with fondness. Just how would I be able to convey the feelings I had to him?

"Not Lord Bielefeld, but Wolfram, right? Yuuri… You're such an amazing person. From the time I met you, my heart has been screaming out, 'grab him and don't let go'. From the time you were kind even to someone whom you caught doing you wrong, from the time you looked at me right in the eyes and called out my name… I wonder how anyone can be so radiant."

He fondly touched my cheek, and then pulled away. I wanted to hold him, to reassure him that he'll never be anyone's "pretty doll" ever again. I wanted to tell him that neither he, nor anyone else in the demon kingdom if I had anything to say about it, will ever be thinking of love as a "luxury". It will be slow, but surely, something will change. With my own two hands, won't I even be able to protect smile of someone who was most important to me?

But I couldn't tell him any of those things.

"Sorry," Wolfram lightly said, taking hold of my hand again. "Let's go home and wash up. I probably stink, and I can't wait for the _ogenkidon_ you've promised me. I'm starving."

"_Oyakodon_."

"Whatever."

We started to walk, and then Wolfram suddenly turned to me with a pout. I was starting to learn the meaning of that pout. I feigned exasperation as I said, "Yes?"

"I don't think I can make it all the way home without something to eat," Wolfram said, pointing to the convenience store nearby. "And I'm so thirsty."

"You want another ice cream?" Sparkling eyes met mine, and I shook my head as I pointed to a nearby bench. "Sit there and wait, then."

"I want to come with…"

"Wolf, the last time I let you come with me, you cleaned out two weeks' worth of my allowance at one go. You'll spoil your appetite, so be good and wait. You're only getting one snack no matter how much you pout."

"Yuuri, you nag too much," Wolfram complained, but he did trot off in the direction of the bench. I went to the convenience store to buy soda-flavored ice cream that Wolfram liked so much. By the time I made my purchase, the sun had already fully set and it was pretty dark. I hurried out.

I didn't get too far before I was slammed against the wall of the convenience store. The street lamp failed to shed any light at the back of the store, and shadows covered everything. A huge, rather unintelligent-looking dude was grinning at me. Two guys who didn't lose to him in size and ugliness leered behind him.

"Hey, Bro," he said, leaning closer to me. I offered him a nervous smile. His grin became wider and uglier. "How about you make a small donation to the less fortunate, hey?"

"Er," I squeaked in a truly wimpy fashion. The guy held my shoulder with one hand while his other hand fished out my wallet. He handed the wallet to his fellow thug, and we both watched as he dug through my wallet.

"One Souseki?![1] You kiddin' me?!" Mr. Thug Number Two yelled, and the boys got closer to me. Number One tightened his hold on my shoulder, giving me an angry look, and I feebly smiled up at him in return. The rest of the money is in my fiancé's belly in form of ice cream, pudding, chocolate and cookies, gentlemen. Number Two continued to dig through my wallet hopefully before he hooted and held up my student ID.

Oh, gods, no.

"Shibuya Yuuri (advantageous)?! Then is Harajuku Furi (disadvantageous), you punk?!"[2] Number Two shouted at my face, spit flying in my direction. The boys screamed with laughter. I'm sorry, but the joke kind of gets stale after the millionth time.

Once again I couldn't help but feel grudge against my parents, who named me not 裕理 (Yuuri), 優梨 (Yuuri ) or even 悠璃 (Yuuri). No, they actually spelled my name 有利(advantageous), to be read as… you got it, Yuuri. But every time I wanted to complain about my name, I would remember my brother whose name was written 勝利(victory) and pronounced as Shouri, and I would swallow my bitter words. With my parent's naming sense, I should be grateful that they didn't name me something even more ridiculous. I mean, what if they named me 光宙 and thought it'll be cute to pronounce that as Pikachu?[3]

Thank you for giving birth to me before Pokémon became popular, Mom…

While I was deeply contemplating about the serious problem of my name and the possible scary and traumatizing names my parents could have given me instead, the thug holding me down grew impatient and lifted me by the collar of my neck and roughly shook me. "You don't have any other secret stash on you, Bro? I'm gonna give you one knuckle sandwich for every 100 yen I find!"

As a matter of fact, I did have some 100 and 500 yen coins in my pocket, but he was shaking me too hard for me to speak. Then he started to bash me against the wall, and it really started to hurt. The other two moved in closer, probably to join in the fun.

There was a golden blur, and then I fell to the floor. My butt hurt. My head and back hurt, too, where I had been repetitively smashed against the wall. More importantly, though, a slim, lithe blond was nearly flying through the air, doing moves that I thought only Jackie Chan could do. Wolfram was silent, but deadly. For a second I caught glimpse of his eyes as he neatly kicked one whimpering bully where it must've really hurt. There was blood-thirst there, a predatory glint that didn't fade even when all three were collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"You dare hurt a hair of this Wolfram von Bielefeld's fiancé? You shall pay with your pathetic lives," Wolfram growled, and fireball started to dance on his fingertips. Or rather, what the heck are you doing, Wolfram?!;;;;;; "All elements that belong to flames, obey this demon who has…"

"Whoa, dude, Wolfram, stop stop stop!!!" I yelled, throwing my arms around Wolfram before he could really start destroying things. And kill people. And come out on the evening news. If three boys suddenly burned to death in the middle of Saitama, it might even be big enough of news to come out on TV Tokyo….!

Or maybe not.[4]

Anyway, I held the pissed, overly protective blonde in my arms as Wolfram shook with fury. "That's too much, Wolfram! You're seriously going to kill them! They didn't hurt me much…"

"Those dirty humans," Wolfram spat, pronouncing "humans" as if it was supposed to be a bad word, "Dared to disrespect the name of Bielefeld and all of our ancestors by daring to touch the future husband of the next lord of…"

Why does the conversation go in that direction? I wondered, as I firmly turned Wolfram around and looked at him in the eyes. "Wolfram, your ice cream's going to melt, and aren't you hungry? They're not worth your time. Let's just go home, okay? I'm not hurt. Really."

At the mention of the word ice cream, Wolfram looked a lot calmer, but he didn't forget to stomp on the passed out bullies for a good measure before we left. I made a note to myself not to make Wolfram too angry, no matter what happened.

Aaaah, how am I doing to tell him that I'm scheduled to be the next demon king?;;;;;;;;

*****

"Yuuri, can you get me some clothing, please?" Wolfram called from the bath. I yelled back "OK" before I trudged up to my room. He was using the bottom drawer that used to contain my socks. I opened it and stared at the varied collection of silk lingerie, frilly night gown chocking with lace, thongs, and teddies. Really, all he lacked was a bra…

'Doesn't he wear boxers? Ever?' I wondered, digging through his underclothing in hopes of finding something more… easy to wear. Not that I didn't think he was very pretty and sexy in those things, but as a fellow man, I couldn't help but wince at the g-stings and T-panties. Those things looked really uncomfortable, not to mention constricting. If you know what I mean.

My hands touched something cold and metallic. That doesn't belong in an underwear drawer, I thought as I pulled it out. In my hands lay a black pistol.

"…………?!!!!!! Wo, Wolf!!!!!" I shouted, clutching the thing between my thumb and forefinger as if it would explode. The gun was definitely not the plastic kind I played with as a kid, and it was most definitely not something I should be finding hidden amongst girl undies of all colors of the rainbow. I ran out of the room, holding the weapon at an arm's length as I called out again, "Wolf! Wolfram!"

"Which one did you pick out for me?" Smiling Wolfram asked, poking his head out from behind the bathroom door. The wet curls over his forehead made him look really sexy, but Mr. Sexy did not grab my attention as much as the firearm that I was doing my best not to accidentally set off.

"T-t-this is a g-gun!!!" I said, hopping from one foot to another. Wolfram looked at the pistol, then focused his glass-like, pretty eyes on me.

"Yeah, so? Where's my underwear?"

"A high school student should not have guns hidden in their underwear drawer… Or rather, firearms are illegal in Japan!" I yelped. "It's dangerous and illegal and scary! What in the world are you doing with a…"

"I'm a soldier, so of course I'd have a gun," Wolfram impatiently said. "Not to mention, there are tons of people who'd love to kidnap me or kill me or both, so I wouldn't dream of going anywhere without my Walther P99. It's not dangerous if you don't touch the safety. More importantly, I need some clothing…"

He suddenly smirked. "Or is this a ploy of yours to get me naked? You prefer that the most, eh, Yuuri?"

He started to saunter out of the bathroom, but I grabbed the door and stopped him from leaving. "Wolf, think about what my parents and Shouri would think if you wander around naked! I'll bring you some cloth, but… Seriously, you need to… throw the gun away… or something, okay?"

"…Is that an order, Yuuri?"

I was so freaked out by the gun that I didn't notice the small change in his tone until much, much later. I just continued to ramble, "Yeah, whatever, but just get rid of this thing, okay?"

Wolfram dropped his gaze and said, "Then dispose it in a way that would most please you."

He shut the door and I rushed to wrap the scary thing in newspaper, wrap it again in garbage bag, and hide it at the bottom of the trash can before I remembered to go upstairs again to get something for Wolfram. However, by the time I found him, Wolfram was already dressed. I stared at him. He evenly gazed back at me. At times like this, I was really reminded that we lived in totally different worlds. This pretty child with angelic face, dressed in half-transparent pink pajamas lavishly decorated with red ribbons, was a soldier prince…

But Wolfram's expression softened as he pat the space next to him on the bed, saying, "Come here, Yuuri," and I forgot about our differences. I sat next to him and Wolfram leaned against me, his head resting against my shoulder. My fingers sought out his, and our hands entangled as we quietly sat, enjoying each other's presence. Just staying by his side made my heart flutter with happiness. Downstairs I could hear my family moving around. There was a faint sound of TV. Next to me Wolfram was breathing softly. He was so precious to me that I wanted to cry.

I turned to look at him and our gazes crashed before he quickly turned his head away. Even by faint illumination that the moonlight provided me, I could tell he was blushing. I used my free hand to gently turn his head towards my face again. His eyes met mine again, he dropped his gaze, and then looked up at me again. In his clear eyes, I saw my own reflection. The deep pools of green got closer and closer until we were kissing. His breath quickened, small fingers clutched at my back, warm lips opened to my prodding tongue. My teeth gently pulled at his lower lip, and then our tongues were pushing against each other. I pulled away and kissed his forehead.

"Yuuri," Wolfram half-whispered, "Make me into yours."

"You're hurt," I said as he nuzzled against my neck. Soft lips tickled me.

I finally remembered that I first found out about sex through porn videos that Shouri had hidden under his bed, not by textbook or google. It was actually quite easy to find gay porn magazine and videos. But when I showed them to Wolfram, he threw them back at my face, so I had to… ahem, research alone. I had a pretty good idea as to what to do now, but I wouldn't do anything with Wolfram tonight. I had hurt him so badly last night…

"I heal fast," Wolfram replied with a tinkling laughter. "Don't you know, Yuuri… Virgins bleed when you take them for the first time. I'll be fine… It doesn't hurt anymore."

Female virgins do, Mr. Wolfram, I thought as I held him. I totally fucked up last night and you know it. I suddenly had an idea.

"Hey, Wolf?"

"Yes?" His eyes sparkled so prettily in the moonlight…

"Why don't you be the 'boy'? We know what to do now so it won't hurt, and you got hurt yesterday, so there is no reason why you should be in pain again. I mean, we both have… you know. It might actually be better, since you're smaller than me."

If Wolfram was willing to go through the humiliation of being held like a woman, than so was I. It wasn't that I really needed to have sex to have a healthy relationship, but I wanted to hold the person I love close to me. Not to mention, Wolfram said our engagement was not binding until we consummated it, and hell if I let some nasty geezer take Wolfram away from me because I was too chicken to let Wolfram make love to me…

But at my brilliant idea, Wolfram turned bright scarlet, his eyes curved upwards like a cat, and fury started to dance in his lips, making it twitch. What?;;;;;;

"You… WIMP!!!!! Stupid, dumb-bunny, useless, wimpy… hopelessly sweet…" He started to swat at me at every word, and then he hugged me. "If a wimp like you had to bear pain like that, you'll die, idiot… There is no way I would let you do that…"

…Did it hurt _that_ much, Wolfram?

"Why the heck should both of us be in pain, Yuuri…? I'm already stretched, and this kind of pain is nothing to a soldier like me… So it's okay, Yuuri… I really want you to."

Even though it hurt so much that you would never let me take that position, you're still willing to be embraced… You don't want me to be hurt, but you're okay with being hurt. Wolfram…

We kissed and I whispered against his lips, "I won't hurt you ever again, Wolfram."

"I trust you not to," Wolfram whispered back. He called me radiant, but his smile was so sweet that I had to look away. Bright smile, kindness that would return any affection I gave him, trusting heart… How could you ever degrade yourself by calling yourself a "doll", Wolfram?

*****

He quietly lay while I kissed and fussed over him, and he kissed me back sleepily when I kept kissing him.

"Yuuri…"

"Wolfram... Just once more?" I huskily asked, kissing his eyelid. Wolfram shook his head as he weakly shoved my face away from his, and then he yawned, showing his pearly teeth and little canines like a cat.

"Tomorrow morning, maybe… Not now…"

His scent hit me harder when he buried his head against my shoulder, revealing the creamy skin of his neck. His soft hair curled over his neck, and I nuzzled him before I bit and chewed at his neck. Wolfram tried to pull away. His voice sounded angry now.

"Yuuri, if you keep doing that I'm going to ovulate!"

"Exactly."

I suddenly felt sleepy as my lips moved on its own. I sounded really mean. I was laughing as I held Wolfram and bit his neck, my teeth moving against his neck until I chewed hard enough that he started to bleed a little.

"I shall gift thee with my attentions until thou art with a babe of mine."

The last thing I remembered was frightened green orbs.

"Yuuri, I said I don't want to have an illegitimate baby!" Wolfram cried out. There was definitely anger in his voice, but fear as well. Yuuri's arms around him started to feel more constricting than comforting, the hard, well-developed muscles holding him in an almost crushing grip. When their eyes met, there was lust in Yuuri's usually clear, rounded black eyes. The eyes looked dangerous, with the pupils narrowed into slits until his eyes looked more like a wild beast's eyes than that of a sweet-tempered human boy. Messy mane of black hair spilled over his broad shoulders. His sweaty, tanned-skin glimmered caramel, which Wolfram would've normally found sexy if Yuuri didn't look at him like a piece of meat about to be devoured.

Strong, large hand gripped Wolfram's neck and held him down. Thin, dry lips crushed his mouth and completely dominated him, sharp canines grazing against his lips as he hungrily drank from the smaller demon's sweet lips. The fairer and smaller of the boys struggled, but the larger male easily flipped him over and held him. Yuuri growled as he chewed at Wolfram's neck and shoulders.

"I shall allow no one to take thee away from me," Yuuri murmured against Wolfram's lips. "Even if thou resist, and weep, I shall make thee heavy with my babe so that no one can steal thee."

Wolfram's protests were swallowed up in the smirking lips of the young demon king.

[To Be Continued]  
[1] Alexander Hamilton… or about $10.  
[2] Both Yuuri and the original work's novelist live in Saitama. The joke is that it's a bitch to get to Harajuku from the subway line in that area, but it's very easy to get to Shibuya, thus Yuuri's last name is Shibuya Yuuri. (Apparently the author named Yuuri after the place where she met her editor for the first time. ^^;; )  
[3] I kid you not. Someone actually named their kid Pikachu. (………….)  
[4] TV Tokyo is infamous for ignoring important current events and just airing whatever they want. To give you an example, when all the other stations were airing news of 911 incident, they were airing an anime(…….)  
http : // 2chart . fc2web . com / tereto . html

Q. Shiro, why does your POV suddenly switch from 1st person to 3rd person? You know your English teachers, starting from elementary school to college, would all foam at the mouth if they knew.  
A. The original work does that so please don't complain to me. ^^;; (the narrative suddenly changes form 1st to 3rd when Yuuri is in MAou mode. ^^;; )

As usual the uncensored version is at my website (which you can find at my profile). I recently found out that Saiga Mitsuki (Wolfram's voice actress) was also from Saitama and I'm freaking out, saying how Yuuri and Wolf are meant to be. I know I'm a dork so you don't have to tell me. (...........)


	8. Chapter 8

Wolfram had been avoiding me for the whole day and it was driving me crazy. When I woke up, I found out that Wolfram had already left for school. He didn't come to visit me during the entire school hours, and my classmates kept asking me where he was until I snapped at them that I did not know. I couldn't find him during the lunch hours, even though I searched every corner of the school. He didn't come to my class to return home with me when the school hours were over.

When I ran home, the stitch at my side nearly making me throw up, he was nowhere to be seen. Mom hadn't seen him, either. I checked my room and found Wolfram's school uniform and book bag, so he had to be around here somewhere. I changed out of my school clothes and pulled on a T-shirt and jeans, determined to search every corner of our farm until I found him. I didn't know what I did wrong, but this whole avoiding each other thing wasn't my thing. I'd rather Wolfram punch me few times and get it over with. (Of course, it'll be nice if we just talked and he didn't hit me, but I'm just saying.)

I opened the door and there was Wolfram, his eyes as wide as a rabbit's, his hand raised half-way to the doorknob. His face rapidly went through several colors, from red to white to blue back to red, but he remained frozen in place. "Wolfram," I tried, stretching out a hand towards him. He promptly bolted.

"Wolfram!" I repeated, as he hobbled away from me. He limped and stumbled, his hand against the wall, before his legs gave out and he fell to the floor. He made frustrated noises as I sank down next to him on my knees, my hands on his shoulders as I repeated, concern creeping into my voice, "Wolf?"

"Shibuya Yuuri, I do suggest you leave me alone if you value your life!" Wolfram indignantly said, his shoulders shaking. "I've been doing my best to quell my murderous intent all day, and I really do not want to kill my fiancé if I can help it, so if you please…"

"What did I do this time?" I asked, sighing. He gets mad if I fail to go all the way to the end, he gets madder if I manage to go all the way to the end… Geez, there was just no pleasing him. Bright willow-leaf colored eyes trembled with fury as he glared at me.

"You… You have no idea what you did wrong?!" He hissed. "You insufferable, beguiling, vapid ninny of an imbecile…! How many times do you think you've fucked me yester night?!"

I flinched at his choice of language, but I meekly offered, "Once?"

Was that why he was mad? Because I failed to satisfy him or something? But seriously, it was only my first time, and yeah, it was terrible that I fell asleep right after I finished… Maybe I should've cuddled with him some more, but just because…

"Five. Fucking. Times. Five fucking times, and you've came inside every single fucking time, and I told you to stop but you kept chewing my neck, and if you weren't such an inexperienced wimp I would be pregnant already!" Wolfram had taken to poking me for emphasis with every word, and towards the end he was violently jabbing at my chest, almost making me fall over backwards. I felt bad about forgetting all about the condom, but I…

Wait, five times? What five times?;;;;; And it's been bugging me ever since we first met, but…

"Wolfram, men don't become pregnant," I told him, rubbing my chest where he had been poking me. "Your anus leads to rectum, which goes up into your intestines. You don't have a uterus, nor even an egg, for that matter, so stop saying you're going to get pregnant."

"Have you failed your anatomy classes, you miserable excuse of a husband?" Wolfram fumed, his eyes flashing. "Or do you take me for a fool? Even pathetic human schools should have taught you at your age that anus leads up to branching path of rectum towards your spine and baby chambers towards your belly, where an egg is released with each stimulus combined with orgasm during mating—"

Haa?!;;;;;;

"And if you're suggesting in any way that I'm infertile or incapable of releasing healthy eggs…"

"Whoa, wait, time out," I said, holding up both of my hands. My head was spinning. "I, er, I think I need to go to the library. But your capability of… er… having a… ahem, anyway, that aside, what five times?"

Is it even possible to do it five times in a row? Sounds like some kind of a monster…

"You," Wolfram snarled, his cheeks staining pink, "Perverted, lecherous, beguiling, uncouth, insatiable… I told you to stop, but you… If I had to please a husband like you every night, even with my stamina, I…"

"We just did it once," I said, confused. "Yesterday you said no when I asked…"

"Yuu-chan! Fiancé of Baby Brother!" Shouri rudely interrupted us, throwing the door to his room open so suddenly that I was nearly slammed in the face with it. There were dark circles under his eyes. His eyes were puffy and red, too. Man, he should really stop playing those games and actually get a life or something… My older brother towered over us. His eyes were blazing with passion. His voice nearly broke as he shouted, "For two days you two kept me awake with your late night activities, and now in the middle of the day you brazenly discuss your sex life right in front of my door! I like to think of myself as a liberal, accepting, understanding man, Yuu-chan, but I. Don't. Want. To. Know!!! Do you know how traumatizing it is to hear the voice of your baby brother, whose diaper you have changed, in throes of most improper—"

"Okay, we get your point! Mom's going to hear! Be quiet, Shouri!"

"_Oniichan_."

"Whatever. I'm sorry we were so loud." Shouri groaned. I stood up and slung my arms around Wolfram, helping him up. He hissed something about not needing help from a wimp like me, but I ignored him and held him. "We'll go talk somewhere else, so you can… uh… go back to playing your porn game… or something…"

"I'm having midterm exams," Shouri snapped, giving me a dirty look. I tried to look as apologetic as possible before I turned and helped Wolfram into my room. I tucked him in bed. He curled up and I wrapped the blanket around him, since the weather was starting to get pretty chilly, especially towards the evenings. I went to close the windows that have been left open for ventilation.

"Yuuri, do you really want to impregnate me?" Wolfram asked in a small voice. I nearly dropped out of the window. I turned to give him an owlish look, but Wolfram obviously didn't catch on because he continued, "It's not that I don't want your baby, Yuuri. You know that. But for someone of my standing and status to be in that kind of situation, before marriage… My cousin twice removed, Johann, gave birth to a baby three months after his marriage, and some stuck-up nobles still do not invite him for any social meetings, or parties, or discussion involving court matters. Why go through that humiliation when it can be prevented?"

Isn't Johann a guy's name? I wondered, feeling cold sweat running down my back. Before I could tell Wolfram that I thought we were too young to even get married, much less have children (which suspiciously started to sound like a possibility), I heard a commotion outside and turned to look out the window that I haven't closed yet. A very tall man had stepped out of a black Mercedes, and two other cars parked behind it. About seven other guys stepped out. They were all wearing black suits, and were very tall. As the first one started towards our home, mom came out to meet them. They stood talking together. Wolfram had come to join me at the window, and as soon as he saw the person talking to mom, he muttered, "Elder Brother."

I had a sinking feeling in my gut. Wolfram watched them for few more minutes before he turned away from the window. Color had drained from his face. "I must talk to him."

"Wolf, are you okay? You don't look so good," I said, moving to support him, but he shook his head. He started towards the stairway, and I walked slowly behind him, ready to catch him should he lose his footing. By the time we were at the bottom of the stairs, the men were gathered at our living room. The tallest one was just as gorgeous as Wolf, though in a different way. While Wolf had delicate, angelic beauty, the man who was staring at Wolfram looked more like a proper demon. His grey hair was so dark that it nearly looked black, his piercing Prussian eyes were narrowed with dangerous anger, and muscles rippled even underneath concealing black suit. When he spoke, his voice was a deep baritone that would have made any male envious.

"Wolfram von Bielefeld! What is the meaning of this?!" He shouted. The yelling thing must be hereditary… Though unlike Wolfram's high-pitched screeches, when the Older Brother barked out words, it was quite intimidating. The wrinkle between his well-shaped eyebrows deepened. "Were you _claimed_?!"

Wolfram nodded and stepped forward. I clutched at his sleeve. He turned to look at me, his deep aquamarine eyes unusually soft, and gave me a small smile. I wanted to hide him behind my back. I didn't want him to leave my side to go to the scary person that he called older brother, who was looking at me down the length of his nose with contempt and disgust.

"Allow me to introduce the two of you to each other. Yuuri, this is my older brother, Gwendal von Voltaire. Elder Brother, this is Shibuya Yuuri, my…" Wolfram swallowed and continued, "My fiancé."

"You deliberately disobey my orders, leave your rank without permission, and shame your family name—nay, shame the entire country of New Demon Kingdom, to become engaged to this… this thing?!" Gwendal snarled, rudely pointing in my direction. I, newly dubbed as "thing", gave him an injured look but he didn't bother looking in my direction. "You do realize that you can be tried for treason! I cannot even begin to think of a punishment befitting an unruly, immature twit like you!"

"Even if I am tried, and punished, for treason… It was worth it, to have met and fallen in love with my sunlight," Wolfram softly replied, his eyes staring at Gwendal's boots. "Just this once, I have disobeyed my superior, my lord and elder brother. I do not regret my actions, and I shall not apologize. I love him, Elder Brother…"

"I'll take his punishment."

My mouth moved before my brain comprehended the situation, once again. My mom did say that I must fix this habit of speaking before thinking it through…

"Yuu-chan!" Shouri tried to interrupt, but I couldn't stop speaking.

"It was all my fault. I'm the one who made love to him, and lied to Conrad when he came looking for Wolf, and didn't even bother contacting you guys. Whatever his punishment is, I'll gladly take it. Please, don't hurt Wolfram; he's already hurting because of… er, an incident last night; he can't even walk well right now… You don't seriously want to hurt your baby brother, do you? I'm sure you'd much prefer to punish me!"

"I will kill you if you so much as touch a hair of Yuu-chan's head!" My brother-complex Older Brother shouted angrily. My mother stepped past us, a tray of cookies and tea in her hands, and went around offering the cookies to the guys in suits. Most of them, looking sheepish, took some and everyone thanked mother. The only sound was my mother bustling around and the munching of cookies as Gwendal gave all of us murderous looks. Suddenly his lips twisted in a cruel smile.

"I've thought of a suitable punishment, for both of you," he quietly said. Venom was dripping with his every word, but his deep voice was sickeningly sweet. "Wolfram, you shall come back with me to the castle, and get married to the man I have chosen for you."

…What?

"But I am already…!" Wolfram cried out. I reached over and held his hand. Wolfram turned to look at me, his eyes flickering with panic, his lips trembling. My heart was speeding up strangely. Wolfram squeezed my hand before he turned back to his brother. "Elder Brother, I already belong to Yuuri."

"Nay, little one. Your engagement was not done in presence of three nobles who are in agreement with the bond. Simple claim is not binding, if both are not nobles of pure demon blood. This human peasant's claim to you is easily overridden. And if you think just because you're not a virgin, your husband-to-be will not think you're desirable, you do not give enough credit to your bloodline, nor the beauty you have inherited from our mother." The demon smirked. His eyes looked cold, but gleeful with cruel mirth.

Wolfram looked deathly pale. His voice sounded anguished as he managed to squeeze out, "Does not my feelings matter in the least…?"

"No. No one cares about what you think," Gwendal coldly said. Something had been boiling in my gut for a long time before this. Now words came flooding out, as I could no longer control my anger. I believed in love and peace and I didn't like to pick fights if I could, but this was just too much.

"Wait a second, this is his life we're talking about, isn't it?! You think just because you're the older brother, you can just waltz in and demand that Wolfram marry whomever you want? I've been telling Wolfram that he should talk it over with his older brother instead of just running from his problems, but I see that you're nothing but a pig-headed, arrogant jerk! Shouri might be a _kim*ota_[1]—"

"I resent that!" Shouri interrupted. "And it's _Oniichan_!"

I ignored him and continued. "—but he would never totally ignore my feelings, like you! Wolfram and I love each other and I'm not letting you take him away to get married to some pedophiliac, disgusting guy! He's mine!"

"And you believe your opinion matters to me at all because why?" Gwendal dryly asked. "Insolent human whelp, you should be thankful enough that I am sparing your miserable life—no thank you, ma'am," he bowed to mom who offered him a cup of tea, "and if you get in my way of bringing my own brother home, where he belongs, I shall not continue to be so lenient."

I hugged Wolfram. I felt braver with Wolfram by my side. There was nothing I couldn't do if Wolfram would be my support. "Oh, then what are you going to do about it?" I asked challengingly. The tone came out cheekier than I intended, and the incredibly tall, handsome, scary older brother of my lover went from menacing to murderous. He raised a hand.

The floor beneath us began to quake. All the furniture in the house started to shake, more and more violently. The teacups started to rattle on their saucers. Mom abruptly stood between us, her hands on her hips.

"Boys," she scolded, "If you have to fight, do it outside."

"Sorry!" Everyone chorused as we trooped outside. Gwendal stood to one side, with his suit-clad troops behind him, while Wolfram, Shouri and I stood facing them. Even before we settled in our positions, Gwendal had raised his hand again, and the ground beneath us immediately leapt into action. Before the floor covered the ground so I couldn't see what was happening, but seeing it affect the earth directly was rather awe-inspiring and scary at the same time. The earth twisted and crumbled and then clumped into large pieces as if it were alive. I could barely stand as huge mud ball lunged towards me. There was no way I could block that in time, even if I was able to summon sufficient water to counter that.

A wolf leapt in front of me. It was made out of flames, burning brightly in the chilly air, its center white while the fire weakened into oranges and reds towards tips of its ears and tails. At the same time a shimmering blue bird attacked the mud, wind swirling around it before the wind and flames combined and broke apart the earth. I looked back and was surprised to find not only Wolf, but Shouri also in a fighting stance, their hands held out.

"Will you raise your hand against your own blood and flesh, Wolfram?" Gwendal growled. Wolfram cringed, but he did not reply. He only stepped in front of me protectively, and Gwendal's blue eyes nearly shone black in his anger. He nodded to his troops.

The men all held out their hand, and I tried to pull out my own powers. I kept thinking of a box, full of energy, that I could reach in and pull out my powers from, but the box remained shut. I felt more and more frustrated as all around us, the ground paved and cracked and then pieces of earth started to rise from the ground. Wolfram held out both of his hands, his palms facing the sky, and at the same time his brother started to shout out his summoning.

"All elements of earth, heed ye to commands of this demon who have defeated the originator!"

"Listen to command of this demon who have defeated the originator, all elements belonging to flames!"

I slipped and struggled to regain my balance as the earth gave away underneath my feet, paving more and more and cracking in strange places. At the end of Gwendal and Wolfram's words, huge chocolate-colored tiger and fire-colored wolf leapt out of thin air, snarling and howling as they lunged towards each other. Sharp chunks of earth rained upon us, and the blue wind bird trilled as it circled around us, holding them at bay. There were too many of them, however, and I knew I had to help them, but no matter how hard I tried, nothing happened.

Box-box-box-box-box-box-box…

"Yuuri!"

Warm bundle barreled into me. Wolfram and I collapsed on the ground. Warm, sweet fragrance of my lover hit my nose before it was replaced by metallic smell of blood. Wolfram didn't scream. His forehead rested against my shoulder as he heavily breathed. I saw a sharp piece of rock solidly plunged into his shoulder blade. Blood was gushing out from the wound, staining his white and green shirt. The wolf faded before it disappeared with a despairing shriek. The bird that Shouri created cried out as it tried to fight off the rocks and dirt and tiger all at the same time, but it also started to tear apart into little shimmering pieces.

"Yuu-chan," Shouri muttered, turning towards me with anxiety filling his eyes. Will Shouri get hurt, too, because of my incompetence? Because I cannot summon my powers when needed, will I just twiddle my thumbs while everyone got hurt protecting me?!

Fuck the box.

*****

Yuuri slowly lifted his head. Clear, velvety black of his eyes were clouded as he gazed at the demon prince who had hurt his beloved, and corners of his mouth tightened. His eyes narrowed.

"I trust thee to take care of Wolfram von Bielefeld," he quietly said to Shouri as he stepped forward. His long black hair caressed the nape of his neck. There was confidence that screamed regality in his steps. Shouri blinked, cradling Wolfram in his arms as his little brother haughtily lifted his head, easily stepping on the cracked and distorted earth with feline grace.

"…Yuu-chan?"

"Hear ye, Gwendal von Voltaire," Yuuri said. His light, boyish voice had suddenly dropped few octaves, sounding husky and silky. He sounded as if he were purring and snarling at the same time, yet the soothing, hypnotic tone underlying the voice had characteristics of melted chocolate. He stood tall, his chest thrust out forward, both his hair and eyes gleaming with absolute black of midnight. The soldiers stepped backwards, immediately intimidated by his charisma. Even Gwendal had trouble standing his ground at the look that the young king-to-be gave him.

"Siblings are born to care and love each other, yet thee have breached this most obvious duty, deliberately hurting the boy who should've been delight of thine eyes. Thou hast threatened to take by force the young one's right to be happy, attempting to tear apart two hapless lovers in the most brutal fashion. Thy tyranny and selfishness is simply unacceptable! It is not desire of mine to shed blood," Yuuri sadly said, "but if it must be done for cause of greater good, I shall not hold back my sword of fury. Judgment shall be given!"

Screaming wind swirled around the boy. His cold eyes looked piercingly at Gwendal, and Gwendal gritted his teeth and stood his ground as wind solidified into dancing, twirling pillars of water that quickly took forms of enormous twin dragons that sang ethereal song. The demon lifted his hand, but he was too late. The dragons summoned by younger demon attacked the prince and his troops, tidal waves crashing against them and sucking out their breath in unrelenting torrent of water. They struggled to breath as the whirlpools of water sucked them up high above the ground, higher, higher until Yuuri looked like a tiny dot on the ground. The water tore at them, making them unable to try to break from the powerful spell.

The dragons continued to climb up higher and higher, and then they suddenly plunged into the ground before crashing, turning the surrounding area into mixture of mud, rock and water as the water pulverized everything on its path.

By the time Gwendal woke up, he would learn that he was stuck to the pool of mud with three of his men, only their heads poking out. For some reason there would be the word "justice" engraved on the mud, and it would take Gwendal next five hours to free himself from the mud and find all of his men.

"I entrust thee to take care of the rest, Shouri," Yuuri quietly said, before he collapsed. Shouri was left alone to call the ambulance and explain to his mother exactly how they had totally destroyed her garden.

[To Be Continued]  
[1] F*cking otaku. (……….)

Remind me never to write MAou's speech again... ^_T;;;;;;;;


	9. Chapter 9

The clouds lay close to the ground. Dark, steel-grey vapors looked ready to pour down rain any second. The air was strangely humid and cold, so that I had trouble moving tips of my fingers. Was it morning, noon or night? I had no sense of time in such darkness. Everything felt surreal. My body felt as if it were not my own. I slowly sat up. The thin sheet rustled as it fell off of me, and unfamiliar smell hit my nose. It smelled like hospital. It _was _a hospital.

My head hurt and I felt dizzy, so I kept my eyes closed briefly while I struggled to remember what happened. Flashes of image went through my mind. Someone had tried to pry Wolfram's fingers out of mine. I kept screaming no, but they pushed me back. They wouldn't let me hold Wolfram. Wolf was crying… or had I been crying? My headache worsened. I turned to look at the bed next to mine. It was empty. The white sheets looked cold and abandoned. A fresh gust of wind whipped my hair into my eyes, and I shivered. It was freezing! Which genius left the window open? I crawled down from the bed to shut the windows. Just as I had closed it, there was a knock, and the door opened.

A pretty nurse walked in, her smile sunny despite the depressing weather. But her smile froze on her face, and I started to apologize for getting up without permission. Maybe I wasn't supposed to get up or something. But she asked instead, "Where is the other boy?"

"What other boy?" My voice sounded harsh, even to my own ears. My nerves were so frayed that I could barely remain civil as I continued, "There was another boy?"

"Yes, the pretty one... with blond hair and weird name? He was here thirty minutes ago." She pointed at the empty bed. I felt like throwing up.

"I… think he went to the bathroom?" I offered as I looked around for my coat. The patient clothing was horribly thin. I found it draped across the chair next to my cot. "As a matter of fact, I need to go, too. My stomach hurts a lot, so I'll… probably take a long time. Right."

I barely registered what I was rambling as I put on my coat and stumbled out of the room. The nurse was saying something, but it just buzzed in my ears and I failed to grasp the meaning of her words. Blood… There was so much blood, and Wolfram had looked at me, and then… Wolfram? Where was he? Hot-tempered, sharp-tongued but sweet Wolfram…

I kept walking and I was surprised when my feet touched something cold. I looked down and realized that I wasn't wearing shoes. The grass and mud was cold and mushy between my toes. There was a clap of thunder overhead. The air became even more oppressing, and wind worsened, sharply stinging my cheek. Was Wolfram wearing a coat? Was he wearing shoes? He hated it when it was cold. When the temperature dropped, he'd steal all the blanket and kick me off the bed in his sleep…

I didn't know how long I walked. I just blindly walked until I saw a familiar path, and I started for home. Somehow I felt like he would be waiting for me there. Wolfram wouldn't just leave me like that. The wind's howl worsened, but I braced my feet against the muddy path by side of the road and kept walking. The asphalt would hurt my feet too much, so even though the cold mud felt freezing and squelchy, I kept to the side. I would find Wolf if that was the last thing I did.

From top of a low hill, I saw my house, but I turned and started for the orchard. Surely, I would be able to find him where I found him the first time. He'd know I'll search for him there. Wouldn't he? He wouldn't come home, knowing his brother was looking for him there, nor would he come to school, but that was place that only two of us knew, right?

I started to run. I stepped on broken branches and rotten leaves and half-spoiled, soft apples, but it didn't matter. I barely felt anything. I kept running until I saw a flash of gold huddled under the tree where I caught him the first time, and I didn't stop running until I dropped to the ground beside him on my knees and had gathered his shoulders in my arms.

"…wimp," a weak voice said in a caustic tone. Was he angry that it had taken me so long to find him? Small hands clutched at my back. His body was so cold. I pulled away to take off my coat and put it around him, and then I held him again. Wolfram slowly lifted his head. Blank, hopeless eyes looked dead. I've never seen his eyes such a dark green before. The beautiful transparent green had faded away into clouded jungle green that looked more like muddy bottom of a lake than that of a clear, sparkling stream. I felt something breaking inside at the despairing look he gave me.

A flash of lightening lit everything up. His ashen face also glowed brightly for a second, eerily enveloped in shadows and light. And then it started to pour. Rain streamed down so thickly that it looked like Wolfram was wrapped in a while veil of water, and water ran into my eyes so that it smarted. I could barely see the face of my beloved, so blurred did he look in the torrent of rain shower. Cold fingers clutched my cheeks. Even though his voice was muffled by rain, I could hear every word of his softly spoken dialogue. It all felt like a dream sequence, and the chill made my body start to numb.

"…_nein… Ich will nicht getrennt werden. Yuuri ist alles was ich brauche... Ich will doch nur an seiner Seite sein. Ich liebe ihn so sehr_…" His voice spiraled into shrieks, as he violently shook and his fingers tightened more and more on my face. "_Ist es denn, so schlimm?!!! Ich, will doch nur mit jemanden leben, den ich liebe… warum ist das denn so falsch?!!! Ich...!!!_"[1]

"Wolfram!" I cut in. He wasn't even trying to convey his meaning to me anymore, but even if I didn't understand a word of the beautiful foreign words he shouted so passionately, his pained voice was all I needed to hear. I was glad it was raining, for it was washing away my tears. I didn't want to hear him being hurt anymore. If he was going to be this much hurt, it would've been better if we had never met. Dry sobs racked his body as I held him. Suddenly he clutched at my shirt as if he were drowning.

"Order me," he hoarsely said, water dripping down the curls of dark honey-colored hair that covered his face. "Order me to follow you, and I'll go with you to the ends of the earth. Please, Yuuri, take me away, I don't want to leave your side…"

He was begging me. This bundle of pride, this beautiful prince who had everything in the world was reduced to begging me. He was muddy and dirty, soaked like a mouse, sitting on top of rotting leaves and apples, his eyes swollen and red with crying. I felt fresh tears springing to my eyes as I gently pulled his hands away until I was holding both of his hands on my own.

"Listen carefully, Wolfram."

Wolfram blankly stared at me, blinking out the water from his eyes slowly. His eyes didn't properly focus on me, and I leaned closer until I touched my forehead against his. Even though we were only touching foreheads, it felt even more intimate than when we were having sex…

"This is not an order… It's a promise. I promise that no matter where you are, I will find you again. And the next time we meet again… I will never let you go."

The rain eased up as I smiled at him, looking into the soft leaf-colored eyes. "Okay?"

The eyes brightened slowly, and Wolfram shakily smiled back at me. "…okay…"

I took hold of his hand and gently wrapped my pinky finger around his pinky finger. Wolfram looked confused, but he slowly curled his own finger. We quietly stayed like that for few more minutes, our foreheads lightly touching and our fingers entwined, until the rain abruptly stopped.

Slowly, very slowly, the crickets started to chirp as the air filled with clean, fresh fragrance after a rain storm.

*****

It was late at night. I had called dad's cell phone to tell him that Wolfram and I had left hospital and were at home. We took a quick bath together. Wolfram protested against being washed, but when I insisted he patiently let me wash him, and obediently closed his eyes whenever I told him to. We sat in the hot bath together, my arms around his waist and my cheek resting against the nape of his neck. Even though we were together, I felt so lonely that I couldn't bear it.

When we came out our family had arrived home. No one had much to say during dinner. After we ate, Wolfram insisted on doing the dishes, so I washed them while he wiped. He broke only three. After we were done, we joined our family at the living room. I tried to watch TV, but I found it hard to concentrate. Wolfram was painting his toenails with mom. After a while, I gave up trying to concentrate on the comedy show and just watched Wolfram. He was laughing as he perched on the arm of the sofa that mom settled in, letting her paint his toenails in weird colors. Our eyes met and Wolfram asked, "Which one do you think looks better on me, Yuuri? Coral pink or sun-kissed orange?" He wriggled his toes for emphasis.

"The pink," I choked out before I suddenly felt tears running down my cheeks, to my mortification. I knew I could get him back. I had signed the acceptance of the crown only few days ago, and this afternoon I received confirmation mail along with instructions and brief explanation of my coronation. So I was going to be the king. As a king, of course I would be able to get Wolfram back, wouldn't I? So why was this anxiety pressing down on my heart, oppressing it and hurting it until it felt like it'd break? I tried to control my sobs, roughly wiping tears away with back of my hand. It was so embarrassing. I haven't cried in front of my family since third grade.

But I had wanted to take him to the movies, to Disneyland, to baseball games. In spring I wanted to watch cherry blossoms with him, in summer I wanted to go to the summer festivals and the beach with him, in fall I wanted to have fun together at autumn sports festival and I wanted to spend Christmas with him. I wanted to curl up with him under _kotatsu_, eating oranges while watching Red and White Music Program, and then visit temple with him as soon as it was New Year's morning. I wanted to talk with him about so many more things, I wanted to kiss him so many more times, I wanted to do naughty things while hidden from eyes of other people. Just thinking about all the things we might never get a chance to do made my eyes sting with frustrated tears.

Wolfram wordlessly held out his arms and I crawled into them, resting my cheek against the warm fragrance of the child who was most important to me. He stroked my hair until I felt calmer. He rested his chin on top of my head and remained silent, his long fingers idly patting me, while the TV hummed in the background. I heard rustling of papers as dad turned pages of the book he was reading. When I had myself sufficiently under control again, Wolfram softly murmured that he wanted to step outside for a second with me. Dad told him not to stay out too long, as the night air was getting pretty cold. Wolf agreed and stepped outside. The clean night air felt cool against my cheek, but not unpleasantly so, like before. Wolfram's hand in mine was warm again. Grass, still wet with rain, glittered under the moonlight. Up on the clear, velvety black sky, stars dotted the darkness here and there. But the beauty of it all did not strike me, as I was too busy thinking, would I ever be able to look at the sky like this again, holding Wolfram's hand? Would I really be able to protect Wolfram… Would I even be able to find him again?

Wolfram suddenly turned to me and I looked back at him in surprise. There was an impish grin on his lips as he muttered, "Crybaby."

"Hey," I protested, but his teasing eyes twinkled at me so prettily that I ended up laughing. What were stars and moon? There was nothing prettier than Wolfram. Wolfram's eyes narrowed in that way that made my heart thump insanely again.

"You're finally smiling for me again."

I gave him a startled look and his smile became wistful.

"You haven't been smiling your stupid, wimpy smile ever since Elder Brother came; I was starting to think you forgot how to smile. I didn't want to leave you with that serious look permanently stuck on your face… A smile looks so much better on you."

"You, too."

"I don't smile much to start with… There isn't anything to laugh about at the court. But I end up laughing a lot when I'm with you… So if nothing else, I'll protect you. I won't let you cry again, ever."

"I think that was my line," I said, tightening my hold on his hand slightly, and he squeezed back.

"_You_? Protect _me_?" He asked in disbelief, smirking at me. I felt my delicate masculinity insulted, and his grin widened at my injured look.

"I'm going to do my best," I stubbornly said. He stopped poking fun and lightly pulled his hand away from mine. He turned back to the house, but there was smile in his words.

"I know."

*****

Back at our room, Wolfram found the handkerchief that held what little possessions he had brought with him when he had ran away from home. He started to pack, and I sat on the bed and watched him. He found a small leather pouch and gave it to me, telling me to give it to mom. Then he found a gold brooch, which he clipped to my T-shirt.

"My uncle had given it to me," he said, patting down my shirt. "Don't you dare lose it. Since you're so pathetic, make sure you at least wear this when you come to get me, if you don't want everyone at the court to laugh at you. If nothing else you're cute, so you should look gorgeous if you wear this pinned to your school uniform."

The words were not flattering at all if spoken by someone who looked like he had dropped from the heavens few seconds ago. As a matter of fact, it was kind of depressing, even though I knew he was earnest. I looked down at the brooch, at its intricate design, all spun of bright colored gold. "If you bothered to bring it, isn't it something really important to you?" I uncertainly asked.

"You're so much more important," Wolfram replied matter-of-factly while carelessly tossing clothing and underwear on top of the handkerchief. He fished out a cell phone amongst his jeans. Wolfram had apparently brought his own cell phone, but had turned it off. When he turned it back on, there were about a million missed calls, voice mails and e-mails. He called his older brother and told him he was ready to go home, and Gwendal said he'd come to pick him first thing in the morning. So that was that. We exchanged cell phone number and e-mail address. I gave him my Mixi address and he gave me his Facebook address in return. When we were done, he threw the phone on top of the mess of clothing and wrapped the handkerchief up.

We changed for bed and snuggled into the covers. Wolfram would toss and kick if left alone, so I tucked him into my body, securing him in place so I wouldn't be thrown out of the bed. He was soft and warm. The curves of his body snugly fit into my own, and for a brief second I thought about how I may never feel this warmth in my arms again before I hurriedly dissipated that most pathetic, wimpy thought. Of course I'd sleep by his side again.

Wolfram lifted his face towards mine. "You may kiss me goodnight," he haughtily said. I kissed his nose and he glared at me. "Yuuri!"

"Good night, Wolf," I said, lightly kissing his lips.

"Night, Yuuri," mollified Wolfram replied, giving me a kiss before he rested his cheek against my neck to go to sleep.

But despite Wolfram's ability to fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillows, he remained awake for a long, long time after that. I knew, because I couldn't sleep, either.

*****

The weather was so nice the next morning that it was pissing me off. Wolf hadn't quite finished his waffles when his brothers showed up. Mom, who had opened the door, exclaimed in delight.

"Why, it's you!" she said to Conrad, and then she turned to me and said, "He's the one I always tell you about, Yuuri! The one who said it was advantageous for a child to be born in summer!"

He's my _nazukeoya_(名付親)?!;;;;;;;;;;[2]

I always had half a mind to punch the guy who put ideas in mom's head about my stupid name, but looking at Conrad whose dimple deepened as he looked at me, I could only smile back at him weakly. He hadn't meant any harm… It was just my parents and their fantastic naming sense. Gwendal was giving me hostile looks again, to which Shouri had flared up and stood behind me, giving him dirty looks in return.

Did I mention how embarrassing big brothers are?

Mom asked the totally-looks-different-brothers to breakfast with us, which they politely declined. They did accept coffee, though, and quietly talked to each other while Wolfram finished his breakfast of eggs, waffles, and sausage. Once I overheard Gwendal ask Conrad, "Exactly what is he eating?" in a disgusted tone, and I suddenly realized why Wolfram had looked at us strangely the first few days when we were eating. The food was unfamiliar to him. But he had always eaten without complaining, even though we didn't feed him frogs and centipedes and whatever else the demons might eat. Wolfram finished his orange juice and wiped his mouth, and then politely said, "Thank you for the meal."

I stood up with him and Wolfram turned to his brothers. "Can I have five minutes?" He asked, and Gwendal sullenly nodded. He turned to me.

"Wolfram," I started. Wolfram suddenly dropped on his knees, kneeling in front of me. Gwendal let out choking sounds and even Conrad looked surprised. My family just looked curious, and I wondered if I should bow to him in return or something. I mean, he's a prince; I doubted it was common for a prince to kneel down to anyone. Wolf took hold of my hand and lightly kissed my knuckles.

"Here I, Wolfram von Bielefeld, solemnly do pledge to you, Shibuya Yuuri, that I shall be your knight until the end of time. Your honor, your heart, your life, I will defend to my dying breath. Should you shed tears, I shall be the ocean to catch them; should you laugh, I shall be the sky to spread out your joy. So accept me, my lord."

"Wolfram!" Gwendal howled, while Conrad tried to hold him back with a troubled smile on his face. The Oldest Brother's handsome face was turning purple. I didn't know what to reply to that.

"Uh… Um, sure?" I offered. Wolfram started to shake with laughter, and I got down on my knees and held his cheeks in my hands, looking into his eyes dancing with mirth. I smiled back and kissed his forehead. "See you later."

"Wimpy until the end! What am I going to do with you?" Wolfram asked, still trying to control his laughter. "See you later, Yuuri."

Conrad had already taken Wolfram's things into the helicopter they came in, so all that was left was for Wolf to leave. He stood up and dusted himself, and then looked at my family.

"I'll be right back, Mama, Papa, Oniichan."

"Have a safe trip, Pu-chan," Mom cheerfully said, while Dad and Shouri mussed up Wolfram's hair affectionately before he left. As soon as Wolfram had gotten to Gwendal, the fuming demon grabbed his baby brother by the nape of his neck. The vein was throbbing so much at the side of his head that it looked like it'd burst.

"Wolfram, did you just pledge your soul away to that pathetic excuse of a human whelp?!" I heard him shouting as he left. Conrad waved goodbye to everyone, and his eyes were twinkling much like Wolfram's when he looked at me before he left.

"I'll see you at the castle, then, your majesty," he said. Then they all left.

Before I had the time to feel lonely or depressed or overwhelmed with the task of getting my love back from Scary Older Brother, Murata pranced into our living room like he had all the right in the world to be there. His appearance left me completely speechless.

"Good morning, Mama-san, Ojisan, Friend's Older Brother," he chirped. "Am I too late for breakfast?"

"Murata, what the hell happened to your hair and your eyes?!" I asked. Round black eyes focused on me. Very lightly wavy black hair fell into his eyes. His glasses glistened.

"Nothing. I just grew tired of dying my hair and wearing color contacts, that's all. I mean, color contacts are so very tiring on your eyes, huh, Shibuya?"

I stepped back. I had dyed my hair back to black, too, and I wasn't wearing color contacts for once in my life. The letter had said that they would come to take me to the Blood Pledge Castle today, and I figured that there was no point in hiding my demon heritage any longer. But Murata…? Suddenly what Wolfram had said before flashed across my mind. "Murata, are you…?"

The way his coal-black eyes were staring at me was disconcerting. Before I finished my sentence, another helicopter landed on our backyard, and our long suffering chickens squawked and ran around. The door opened and a tall, gorgeous man stepped out. His ivory skin sharply contrasted against his piercing, light lavender eyes, and his long silver hair also glistened faint lavender in the sunshine. Just standing made him look like he was posing for a photo session, so beautiful was this man. The effect was ruined, though, by chickens running across his path, clucking indignantly. The man opened his lips.

"Your majesty-----!!!!!! Aaaaah, it is the happiest hour of this Günter von Christ's life to greet such young, beautiful lord into our kingdom! Oh, my lord and king, your radiant smile is sure to melt heart of any unworthy subject crossing your path, but it is with the greatest pleasure that I shall be the first to be blessed with such!"

…I think he's much cooler when he keeps his mouth shut… As it was, the guy looked like he would swoon any second, stars practically pouring out from his eyes as he made dramatic gestures with his hands. And then his eyes focused on Murata and he really started to freak out.

"Your grace? Is it possible that it is your grace, the Great Sage?! Those heavenly raven locks and eyes cannot be any other, and it is your glorious face that smiles upon us every morning on the portraits, even to this morning! Don't bother denying, sir, I would know your face even in my dream, though young you may look!"

"What the heck is he talking about?" I whispered to Murata, and Murata patted my shoulder.

" It's long and complicated, so I'll tell you later… We'll have all the time in the world once we arrive at the castle."

"What do you mean 'we'? Or rather, who are you, Murata?"

Murata's smile widened. He looked very much like Cheshire cat.

"Well, I guess to make things very simple, I'll just say that I'm your beloved Wolfram's great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother. On maternal side." He stopped counting on his fingers and said, "I DID say 'great' seven times, didn't I?"

…What was he on? Acid?

[To Be Continued]  
[1] "...no... I don't want to be separated. Yuuri is all I need. I just want to be by his side; I love him so much... So is that so bad? I just want to live with someone I love, so why is that so wrong?!!!"  
Translation thanks to Mitsu-san (who randomly came by my website and chucked the translation at my face). Much love & gratitude! Ooooh, look at the beautiful German! ^//////T (The line was in romanized Japanese(....) before, since I sadly do not speak a word of German...)  
[2] This commonly translates to "godfather" in English fandom, and I love that translation, but it didn't fit with context of this sentence so I used the original word. It means something like "name giver". I still prefer the godfather translation though, since it just rolls off of your tongue... Like the word "wimp". 埴猪口 (henachoko) is more closer in meaning to "amateur, vapid, useless", but those words don't have impact and association that the word "wimp" brings to mind...

I somehow feel really tired after writing this chapter... orz And I vaguely seem to recall something about this story being under category "romance" and "humor", but that doesn't really matter any longer...


	10. Chapter 10

The water colored days continued endlessly. The days blended and smudged into each other until they became indistinguishable. It had already been a month since I came to True Demon Kingdom, and so far I have accomplished impressive total of nothing. Absolutely nothing. My coronation was still two months away. Günter still spent most of the day with me, trying to stuff my empty head with knowledge of this kingdom that went in one ear and out the other. Gwendal still didn't trust me with any of the country's urgent matters and took care of all the political aspect of the kingdom until I came to the throne. (I had a feeling that even if I did officially come to the throne, Gwendal would still be the one who'll do most of the political work, but I wasn't complaining. He might be intimidating, but damn he was smart.)

I still couldn't meet Wolfram.

The first day that I had arrived at the castle, ten nobles have came to greet me. The representative of Bielefeld was a tall, handsome young man who vaguely resembled Wolfram. (Come to think of it, his name vaguely resembled Wolfram's, too.) Wolfram was nowhere to be seen and when I asked, Lord von Bielefeld turned up his nose and pointedly ignored me.

Okay, fine, I'm not your king yet, but is it necessary to be so obviously rude?;;

Wolfram's phone number was out of service, someone had deleted his internet pages, and letters I've sent him came back stamped with "undeliverable". When I mustered up enough courage to ask Gwendal, he nearly bit my head off. Günter's response to my inquiry about Wolf was to say something about 'Am I not enough to keep you occupied, your majesty?!' and cry and slobber over me until he fainted. (I'm not going to ask because I don't want to know.) That only left Conrad, who seemed like the only reasonable, intelligent, nice person in this loony bin, but he didn't answer me directly, either.

"But I'm his fiancé! Why am I not allowed to meet him?!" I had asked for the thirtieth time, frustrated. (I've bugged him every single day, so it was exactly my thirtieth time.) Light brown eyes flecked with silver looked at me with pity and affection. His good-guy-smile became troubled as he lightly rested his hand on my shoulder. However, unlike other days, he did not make an excuse and immediately leave the room.

"Well, you're not his fiancé, technically," he had said, carefully choosing his words. "Your proposal was not done in presence of at least three demon nobles, and your claim is not binding and may be overridden because of your… status. He's still under protection of Mother, Gwendal, and Lord von Bielefeld, in that order, so unless one of his guardians consents, you cannot meet him."

"I'm the king and my claim or whatever can be overridden?!"

"Well, you're not a king yet…" Something flickered in Conrad's eyes, and then he heavily sighed and patted my shoulder before he stepped back. "Anyway, just because you're a king does not mean you can just marry anyone you please. You need his guardians' permission, since he's still a child, you need permission from the ten nobles, or you need the bride-to-be's permission. You'll need at least two out of those three."

I frowned as I tried to make sense of this with my rusty brain. I kind of got it. "So… even if Wolfram doesn't want to marry someone, if his guardians say yes and the ten nobles say yes, his opinion doesn't matter."

"Exactly," Conrad beamed. It's not time to be proud of my finally understanding the situation, Conrad!;;

"That's even more of a reason why I must meet Wolfram, no matter what! I'm not asking that you guys acknowledge our engagement or whatever, so can I at least see him? I miss him!" I felt like crying, and my wavering voice must have moved Conrad since his brown eyes deepened in sympathy.

"Your majesty… He's not allowed to meet anyone else except his fiancé and immediate relative for duration of three months before his marriage."

"Marriage! What marriage?!" I shouted, turning abruptly to stare Conrad in the eyes. His kind eyes gently refused to meet my gaze. "Where, when, with whom?!"

"Gwendal forbade everyone from divulging that information," Conrad said, his handsome face showing slight distaste. I could tell he wanted to tell me, but he still refused to meet me in the eyes. "But I guess I can tell you the dates, at least. The engagement is tonight—"

"What?!"

"And the marriage ceremony is to take place sixty days afterwards, provided all goes well."

"Well, I'll tell you right now that all will not go well! The nerve of…!" I picked up my cloak and threw it over my shoulders. If Gwendal had been in the room, I would have attacked him, even if he was twice my size. I started to storm out of the room, but Conrad extended an arm and kindly but firmly blocked my way. "Get the hell out of my way, Conrad!"

"I'm sorry, but I cannot permit that, your majesty," Conrad replied.

"And cut out that "your majesty" crap! You're the one who gave me my name," I complained, and my companion actually laughed a little, but he still did not withdraw his arm.

"I apologize, Yuuri. But you can't leave the castle before your coronation. Many wish to harm you. We've already explained this."

"But I've promised." I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I promised him that I'll come to find him. It's already been a month, Conrad. And he's marrying someone else before I even have a chance to talk to him?"

"…Yuuri…" Conrad took a deep breath, and then looking into my eyes, he softly said, "You'll definitely be able to meet him before…"

"Sir Weller! Suspicious movement reported at the eastern border; Sir von Voltaire requests your presence immediately!" A panicked-looking young soldier said. He couldn't be older than my age group, and remembering how Wolfram said he was also a soldier, I turned to say something to Conrad, but he was already leaving.

"Don't worry, Yuuri, everything will work out! And don't leave! Make sure his majesty doesn't leave the vicinity of the castle." Conrad smiled at me and the soldier in turn before he rushed out. The soldier bowed to me politely before he closed the door. Without a doubt he'll be standing guard outside of it. I sighed in frustration and dropped to a sofa, clutching my head in my hands. What the hell is "everything will work out"? I thought I could change something when I agreed to come to this country, but so far all that happened was that everyone either treated me like crap or like a baby, and I still hadn't a clue to what I was doing. I would get up every day, go jogging with Conrad, study with Günter, study with Gwendal, study with Günter, and then go to sleep. I watched the news, but all I could figure out was that there were lots of wars going on in this side of the world. And I couldn't do a thing to help anyone.

Heck, I couldn't even help myself, much less anyone else.

But sitting still and feeling sorry for myself would not change anything. I opened the windows and looked out. It was nearly time for afternoon tea, so not a lot of soldiers wandered around the courtyard. Those that patrolled looked bored and listless, and did not glance in my direction. I checked the strength of thick vines that climbed the wall next to my window. Even though I pulled with all my might, putting my entire weight on it, it did not budge. Anyway, it was just two floor drop, so even if the vine broke off, I would not get hurt… too much. Right?

I climbed out of the window, gripped the vine in my hands, and carefully swung out. Once outside I quickly scaled down the wall, landed on the ground, and slipped to the shadows of the castle. I checked again at what everyone was doing. No one had raised an alarm. I drew the hood of the cloak more securely against my face and started to walk.

Getting into the castle was next to impossible, but to my delight, I found out that sneaking out of the castle was a piece of cake. The guards barely glanced at me. I felt thankful that I had insisted upon getting a plain red cloak, even though Günter kept saying I should get several fur-trimmed ones with intricate designs sewn with gold and silver threads. I had just made up my mind to ask the first person I met out of the castle where Bielefeld was located at when a voice spoke up my name, making me freeze in my tracks.

"Shibuya, you'll get that poor young man tried for treason and hung if you so much as break a fingernail."

I turned to gawk at Murata Ken, who gave me a sunny smile. Then he looked sterner as he scolded, "Sir Weller asked the soldier standing outside your door to be responsible for you, you know. You should be more considerate of your subordinates when you decide to do something rash. Sir Weller was absolutely right not to trust you."

"Conrad…?"

"He asked me to wait here for you, and to tell you that he'll give us a ride to Bielefeld estates as soon as he was done with what Lord von Voltaire asked him to do. So just wait, Shibuya."

I sighed, half in relief and half in exasperation. Why didn't he tell me from the beginning that he'd escort me to go see Wolfram? I guess he was trying to tell me that, before he was whisked away by his older brother… But he made me climb down an ivy plant for nothing.

Murata and I settled under a tree to wait for Conrad. After few minutes of silence, I brought up the topic we have been discussing before. "But Murata, I still don't really get it. I mean, so you're the Great Sage, or what?"

"I have his memories, and his soul," Murata patiently explained again. "But as I said, not his body. I remember the happiness of holding my first child, I remember the sadness of losing my husband… But it's all very old, faded memory. Like recollections from your childhood, or like a movie you've watched a long time ago."

"And your… um, self, before you were… reincarnated? Or whatever. You were ancestor to Wolfram's mom."

"Right." Murata softly smiled. "She looks a lot like him, too… But Wolfram looks exactly like my husband when he was around Wolf's age, except Wolfram looks softer and… how should I say it; sweeter? It's very strange how all my genes were selected out. Our baby had looked just like me, except she had beautiful blue eyes."

"Wolfram said his grandmother looked like you," I helpfully said. "So every time you're… uh, reborn, you look the same?"

"Not at all. It's just a coincidence that this time that I look a little like my former self. Once I was a brunette woman with violet eyes. Breast size G-cup."

Before I processed this very disturbing information, Conrad arrived to drive us to the Bielefeld manor.

*****

"Absolutely not."

His tone was as flat as the look in his eyes. Waltorana von Bielefeld's clean-featured, well-shaped face remained impassive as he further leaned against the chair he was sitting in. "It is understandable that his majesty would entertain such childish ideas as this, but I am surprised and disappointed at you two, Sir Weller and Your Grace the Great Sage."

"We know it's bad luck," Murata apologetically said. "But he scaled the wall from the second floor. If we didn't bring him here, who knows what kind of crazy stunt he would have pulled."

Handsome Uncle of My Lover did not look impressed at all by my desperate actions. As a matter of fact, when he spoke, his tone strongly voiced his disapproval. "He… climbed down… the wall, you say?"

"Very brave of him," Murata happily said, to which Waltorana curled up his lips.

"Very foolhardy would be my description," he quietly said. "Begging your majesty's most gracious pardon."

Then don't say it in the first place…

The way his forest green eyes looked down at me condescendingly reminded me of how Wolfram used to look at me when we first met, and I felt another pang at my heart. The maids brought in the tea. Waltorana politely offered little sandwiches and cookies and cakes, but I couldn't eat a bite. The cookies were strangely shiny, though, and I numbly watched Murata gobble them down, wondering how I would convince the stubborn noble to let me see Wolf, before I saw a particularly large fleck of…

Gold?!;;;;;;;

"Is that gold?" I asked, pointing at the cookie. Waltorana and Conrad broke off their conversation and the master of the house followed the direction of my finger, and then nodded.

"Yes, your majesty; gold dust and powdered sugar. If you have gold allergy…"

"You shouldn't waste gold on food," I said, even though I knew I was overstepping my boundaries. "Especially for someone like me and Murata."

"Hey," Murata good-naturedly protested. Waltorana didn't seem too annoyed, though.

"Of course, we try not to be extravagant… But it is food served to our future king after all."

"I don't need it. I'd much rather you spend it on people who need it more." I dropped my gaze, because I felt that Waltorana's smile was mocking.

"Are you saying," Waltorana carefully said, picking up his tea cup. Long, beautifully-shaped fingers wrapped around the cup's handle. "You do not have any hobbies? Your majesty does not have any interest in pleasures of exquisite food, nor company of beauties, nor excitement of games?"

"Well, I do love playing baseball," I offered, and Waltorana smiled only with corners of his lips.

"And that is your choice of a costly hobby?"

"Um, no? All you need is passion and love for the game. I think."

Murata pushed me out of the way to get at the tiny pieces of pies. I pushed him back.

"You do not have any other hobby that would… require more money?"

"Why is it necessary that my hobby be expensive?" I asked, totally confused. It didn't make any sense to me. "So… just because I'm going to be the king… You want me to waste money that my people worked so hard to get, and entrusted me with to use for our country? While my people gave me taxes to make post office and schools and fix sidewalks, I should be using that precious, hard-earned money for my amusement?"

My eyes met forest green eyes that looked so much deeper and older than that of my lover's, yet so similar in some ways. I earnestly asked—because I really didn't understand how Waltorana could ask me such questions—"That's the kind of king that you, and Gwen, and Conrad, and Wolf wanted? Is that the proper behavior? Because I can't agree with that at all. I mean, it's true I'm very young compared to you, and there is so much more that I need to learn… But as my mom would always say, 'don't do something to others that you don't want others to do to you!', you know?"

Waltorana looked weirder and weirder until I couldn't read his expression at all. He turned his gaze away from me to look at Conrad, who quietly smiled back and muttered, "Gwendal is rarely wrong in his judgment of character."

"Well, I wasn't sure when I first saw him… But I'm glad I made that decision, after all." Suddenly light exploded from the green eyes, dancing and sparkling with mirth. I felt as if I had been punched in the gut. Waltorana's eyes twinkled exactly like how Wolfram's did.

Every time I breathed, every time I laughed, every time I ate, thought, walked… With each heartbeat, my longing for Wolfram just grew and grew until the sadness and loneliness threatened to overwhelm me…

"Please, Lord von Bielefeld… I just miss Wolfram."

My voice sounded pathetic even to my own ears. Waltorana turned back to me, and I thought his eyes looked so much kinder. I thought he only vaguely resembled Wolfram, but I guess blood really is thicker than water. His expression, his gestures, so many aspect of this man reminded me of the person I loved the most and made the pang in my heart throb deeper.

"It is utmost bad luck for Wolfram to meet you before his marriage," Waltorana said. His voice was nicer. "I know it's a silly superstition, but begging your most generous pardon, we don't want to take even tiniest chances of Wolfram having sadness in his marriage life. However, I shall be more than happy to deliver a note to my nephew, if his majesty wishes that."

When I gratefully nodded, he instructed a well-dressed servant to bring in writing instruments, and soon Conrad was poised over a parchment with well-inked quill in his hand. (I couldn't write a word of German and I didn't trust my rather lacking English.) It seemed like I had so many things to tell him when I came here, but I could only think of one thing to say. All three men in the room were looking at me curiously as I cleared my throat.

"Don't worry even if we have to briefly let go of the hands we were holding," I said, my voice slightly wavering. "Because we're still walking down the same path, and I will always be by your side. I haven't forgotten our promise."

"Awwww," Murata sneered, and I got up to punch his nose in before Conrad gently steered me away from my most inconsiderate "friend".

"I will deliver this," Waltorana said as he accepted the note from Conrad. "Then I bid you farewell, your majesty."

We had no choice but to leave then. While we were walking out of the estate, I asked, "Can I attend Wolfram's engagement ceremony?"

A strange smile crossed elder Lord von Bielefeld's lips. Perhaps he realized that I had planned to object and raise a big fuss and completely ruin the engagement. But he was polite when he answered, "But of course, your majesty."

*****

"What the heck do you mean I'm getting engaged tonight?!" I shouted, flailing my arms around. Günter dramatically blew his nose into a lace handkerchief. His nose was red as he freely sobbed.

"It is most irregular, your majesty; it is utmost irregular! Your majesty is too young to be tainted by the likes of that devious, seducing, tempting… brat! This Günter had done his most to protect his majesty's innocence, but nay, it is all for naught! I had no intention of giving your most beautiful majestic self to that twit of a child, but alas, fate was not meant to bring us together!"

This was followed by particularly loud wails. I turned to Gwendal for help. "For heaven's sake, Gwendal, I'm only seventeen!"

"You are considered legal adult at the age of sixteen," Gwendal started, before he started to snarl out, "And that sure did not stop you from fucking my baby brother before, did it, you lecherous—"

"Conrad!" I appealed as my last resort. The second child of we-don't-look-alike-brothers smiled that winning smile of his.

"We never had such a young king before, so this is problematic… You see, your majesty, usually you come to the throne together with your spouse or your future spouse. It saves the time and money of preparing for your coronation, and then coronation of your queen or prince consort later in time. Anyway, it doesn't really matter as the two of you already—"

"Conrad," Gwendal said in a warning tone. Conrad shut up. Gwendal turned to me. "Be grateful. You are marrying the most beautiful person in this kingdom, as well as one of the most powerful, both politically and magically."

"I don't care if you're offering me hand of Ms. Universe or Ms. True Demon Kingdom or whatever! I have another engagement I have to cra--attend tonight!" I protested, and Conrad and Gwendal exchanged glances while Günter noisily blew his nose in the background.

"You are to refuse the engagement in person, even if you choose to refuse," Gwendal curtly said. And that was that.

*****

That really was that, because Gwendal and Conrad seemed to understand very well how I functioned by now, and they had stuck five soldiers to go anywhere and everywhere with me. They even followed me to the bathroom. It was very disconcerting. I had absolutely no chance to run away, and my only hope now was that I could say no as fast as I could, get to Bielefeld as fast as I could and stop the engagement.

Günter was crying again as he instructed me in proper engagement etiquette and the seamstress poked me again and again with a pin, but I ignored such minor distractions in lieu of wondering if the king of this country was allowed to declare a marriage… I don't know, unlawful or something. And steal Wolfram from that other creep (whose teeth I will knock out tonight if I have the chance). And marry him.

Finally they were done with whatever they wanted to do with me. The weight of heavy red velvet cape nearly made me fall to the floor when I got up from the chair. When I got out, I was surprised to see my family. They came to visit often when I first got here, but nowadays they rarely came, since it was 10 hours plane ride from Saitama to True Demon Kingdom. I guess it made sense for my family to be here if I were getting engaged… but I wasn't.

"What is this I hear about you getting engaged to a blonde babe?" Shouri asked, crinkling his forehead. Both mom and dad were giving me dirty looks. Shouri joined.

"I'm not!" I protested, starting to be a little bit angry with this whole business. I had more important things in my life to do than refusing to get engaged to some hot girl I've never seen in my life, such as rescuing my real love from some nasty old geezer this very minute! "The only one I want is…"

"Ooooh, are you His Majesty Yuuri?" A sweet voice cooed. All members of my family whipped their heads to stare at the most sexy woman I have ever seen in my short seventeen years of life. Her enormous breasts were threatening to spill out of her tight, tight black dress, and I watched, mesmerized, as they jiggled and bounced with her every step before my face was smothered in them. "You're even cuter than I heard! What an absolute darling! And you are his most adorable family? How precious!"

It was heaven and hell at the same time. Most importantly, I had trouble breathing. "Uh—, Um—, Er?!" I asked very intelligently. She tossed her long, curling blonde hair.

"I just couldn't wait to meet you! Pardon my intrusion, your majesty and his cutest little family. I will see you in few minutes."

She left in a whirl of golden curls, black silk and almost sickeningly thick perfume. I felt sweat running down my back. Geez, and I thought Wolf was overwhelming. But as gorgeous as Miss Sexy Queen was, wasn't Wolfram much more beautiful than she was? Besides, she seemed, you know, rather older than me… A lot older as a matter of fact… She couldn't be less than mid-twenties. I preferred older women, sure, but didn't this classify under statutory rape…?

I turned to my family and if looks could kill, I would've been dead already. The look in my mother's eyes, in particular, was positively venomous.

"It's not what you're thinking!;;;;;;" I shouted, resorting to a tantrum as I furiously stomped my foot.

*****

I tapped my foot impatiently as one after another one of the noble guests were announced. Hello?! Can we speed up the process a little here? I have an engagement to crash, you know!

"Her most royal highness the High Witch, her majesty the former Demon Queen, Lady Cecilie von Spitzweig!"

I nearly choked on my spit as Ms. Sexy Queen, who turned out to be (former) Demon Queen, waltzed in gracefully after a mustached, honey-blond man. This had to be Wolfram's mother, then, and didn't Wolfram say he shared the same mother with Gwendal and Conrad?! She gave birth to Gwendal?!!!!!! Dude, I'd totally believe it if someone told me Gwendal was her older brother!

"His lordship, Lord Waltorana von Bielefeld!"

Another burst of trumpet, and Waltorana entered. I blinked to make sure. Exactly why were all of Wolfram's family members here? Didn't Wolfram have an engagement ceremony today, too?

A hope started to grow inside of me. Maybe the demon king's engagement was priority. Of course! Wolfram's engagement was cancelled because of mine! 'Maybe he was required to attend this one, too,' I hopefully thought as I strained to look behind the royal blue of Waltorana's cape. If Wolfram had came, he would be announced with his family, the Bielefeld. To my disappointment, the next one to be announced was "His lordship Lord Densham von Karbelnikoff", whoever that was.

Wait wait wait, so if Wolfram's mom wasn't my fiancée, who was…?

"The honored prospective fiancé of tonight, his most royal majesty, The Demon King!"

I nearly missed my cue to walk out of the waiting room. I knew peasants weren't supposed to say my name out loud or whatever, but I still couldn't get used to being called the Demon King (the same guy I used to beat in half the RPG games I owned). I walked beneath a tiny arch heavily decorated with roses that were so red that they almost looked black, and stared at the white arch decorated with white roses that shone velvety blue, directly across from me. I wondered when was the proper time to announce that I wasn't interested, but thank you very much anyway. Nice of you guys to think about me.

"The honored prospective fiancé of tonight, his highness former prince—"

Haaaa?!!!!!;;;;;;;;;  
Even in my unwanted engagement they had to provide me with a gay boy?!!!!!!!!!;;;;;;;;;;

"—and his lordship, Lord Wolfram von Bielefeld."

The raucous, shouting announcement suddenly shrunk in volume until I couldn't hear very well. The murmur of the guests, the trumpets, everything died out. Even my vision seemed to be failing me for some reason. The only thing that remained clear—rather, almost blindingly vivid in my line of vision was a slender figure clad entirely in white and blue and sky blue who was slowly walking towards me. Even that started to be blurred as something hot and wet travelled down my cheeks, and then that plum candy smell hit me and I ran. All dignity or whatever forgotten, I shrugged off the annoying cape and ran, probably faster than the time that oaf of a left fielder had been lunging towards me with a ball and I feared for my life. I grabbed… him, by shoulders, and then I tore off the heavy veils that covered his face.

The angel was even more beautiful than how I had remembered him. He stared at his feet, and thick ringlets of sunshine-colored locks fell into his eyes. I reached out to push the hair away from his face so I could see him better, but he spoke up. Even his voice was so beautiful…

"Consent for this engagement, given by Lord Waltorana von Bielefeld, and—"

"Pardon me," the beautiful boy said. His voice was shaking terribly. So were his shoulders. Should I hug him? Could I hug him? I joyfully wondered. Would everyone throw a fit if I kissed him? "Everyone. Your majesty. This Wolfram is most humbly honored by the offering of his majesty's favor. However, I already have someone that I love, and I cannot possibly accept this offer of marriage."

………………. What?

"I will atone for this sin of not accepting your attentions and disgracing the name of Bielefeld by taking my own life," Wolfram continued. There was a flash, a metallic glint that quickly thrust towards Wolfram's milky throat and without thinking—there was no time to think, really--, I put my hand out and put it before his neck. The dagger lodged solidly into my hand. There was a quick, burning pain, and blood started to pour out, and there was a huge commotion in the background, but I could only look at Wolfram.

"Wolf," I softly called out. "Look at me, Wolf."

There was no need to say that, since Wolfram's head snapped up at the first syllable. His eyes filled with disbelief. His mouth slowly opened, and then closed.

"Look into my eyes and say it. You have someone else you love?"

"Oh, True King," Wolfram finally managed to gasp out. "Oh, True King…"

"Who the hell is this 'True King' dude?" I asked jealously before my very lace and silk and ruffle-clad lover jumped into my arms.

*****

It was very late at night before the uproar was sufficiently calm for anybody to go to bed. Most of the eight lords (out of ten) who showed up for my engagement had decided to stay in the Blood Pledge Castle for the night. Never before had the husband-to-be looked at his future spouse in the face three months or less before the marriage date. Especially by such a vulgar action as tearing the veil off of his fiancé's face at the very date of the engagement.

"Bad luck my ass," Wolfram had sniffed in his usual condescending way. "Those prudes just didn't want the engaged couples to have sex before marriage, that's all. Seriously, what century do they think this is?"

Never had a king been stabbed in the hand by his fiancé during their engagement.

"Wimp," Wolfram had complained over and over again while he healed my wound. My cut burned and hurt as my fiancé held my hand, like the time my mom put iodine in it, except it was about ten times worse. And then my cut was gone. Magic!

Never had anyone been dumb enough to hear "Oh True King" and accuse his lover of cheating on him with the said man. (Apparently it was just a saying, like the statement "Oh my God.")

"Were you paying attention to Günter's lessons at all? Wait, don't answer that." Followed by a very superior look from my future husband.

I watched Wolfram sitting at the small table next to the wide glass doors that led to the balcony, sipping a glass of wine. The moonlight made his hair glow in silky, silver strands. Very short, lacy lingerie barely managed to cover him. It was white with pink accents and red ribbons, but I barely had time to admire it before Wolfram yelled at me, his cheeks the same shade as edges of his lingerie, and turned the lights off. I knew I must have the goofiest look on my face at the moment, but I was basking in too much happiness to care much.

Apparently everyone had known about our engagement except me and Wolfram. Gwendal had insisted that I must be punished for laying hands on Wolfram before marriage, and adamantly refused to give his consent for our marriage until everyone had agreed to keep the secret. 'I seriously thought I would have to take my own life to protect my virtue for you,' Wolfram had cried in my arms before tears were replaced by anger and he gave me a very neat upper hook that rattled every single tooth I owned. 'Fucking wimp, you were going to get engaged to someone else?!!!'

"We must be fated," I called out, and Wolfram turned his gaze away from the moon to stare at me. He looked cute like that, his eyes all round and big like a bunny's. "Of all people you could've ran into, you ran into me… Whom you were running away from."

"Hmph," the blond angel groused. "I must've done something really wrong in my past life to get stuck with a wimp like you twice over."

"Did you get my note?"

Wolfram didn't reply, but he ducked his head towards his wine glass to hide his face, so I took that as a yes.

"If you die, we wouldn't be walking the same path together anymore, you know."

Wolfram's head snapped up.

"And then I'll cry, and mourn for few years, and marry someone else, and have children. And you'll just become a faded memory," I said meanly. Tears filled the angel's bright green eyes, and all thoughts of punishing him for trying to take his own life—because I got angry and depressed and scared just thinking about what could've happened—dissipated. I started to get up to apologize for bullying him, but the tears were quickly blinked away, replaced by absolute fury, and fire started to dance in his fingers.

Oops…

"I can't believe," Wolfram started to screech, "you would even entertain the idea of—"

"So may my breath end the moment your heart stops beating," I said, holding out my hand. The little blond blinked. I was still working hard on growing, and I was pleased to see that I had grown few more inches in the month we were apart, because the height difference between Wolf and me had became greater. "Your smile is melody in my heart, your…"

"Yuuri, stop!"

"…tears would darken my days…"

"Do you know what you're doing?!"

"Your every word shall become the map in which I will live by. I will live to serve you, and protect you, and love you, so may you never turn your gaze away from me." I smiled. "Hold my hand?"

"I am not executing a Lover's Pledge," Wolfram snapped, hiding his hands behind his back. Even though his voice was angry, he looked like he would cry. "Why did Günter even teach you such ancient… Yuuri, that's a powerful spell that can never be broken. You will die the moment I die!"

"Yes." I reached out to touch his cheek when he refused to hold my hand. "Then you'll be more careful of your life, won't you?"

"Yuu…?"

"Because I'm really mad right now, you know." I felt the stirring in my veins again, but I ignored it. My voice deepened a little, though. "Do you honestly think your honor is worth more than your life? You think that I would care enough if you married another man against your will that I would not keep my promise to come and get you? Fuck, Wolfram, you can sleep with millions of guys and girls and have a dozen kids that are not mine, and I wouldn't have cared as long as you loved me back! Why the fuck did you ignore my note and tried to kill yourself tonight, you asshole?! Don't you ever try to die again, or else I'll kill you!"

Wolfram flinched, and then trembled, and then his wobbly voice said in almost a whisper, "…Sorry."

"Hold my hand!"

Wolfram obediently held my outstretched hand. There was a brief flash on back of our hands, and then the strange symbol disappeared. More magic! Cool.

I pulled him into my arms and held him as tightly as I could. His thin shoulders trembled. I felt warmth against my shoulder and pulled away a little to hold his cheeks in my hands. He always pretend to be so strong, but he burst into tears so easily. I smiled, but I felt like crying, too. Happiness and heart-breaking sadness mingled into each other until I didn't know what I was feeling.

"I know this will sound cheesy, but if you die, I'll just die of sadness, too. So please take care of yourself preciously. Because you're the one who is most important to me..."

I wiped tears gathering at the edges of vibrant green eyes with my thumbs. Wolfram sniffled, and then he leaned closer to lightly peck my lips.

"I love you, Yuuri…"

"Wolfram…"

"I love you so much… I'll never do anything that would hurt you again, ever. I promise…"

"Wolf…"

Before we could figure out who started it first, we were devouring each other's lips.

*****

When I woke up in the morning, every part of my body ached. My back especially hurt. Prickles of pain jabbed at me at the slightest movement, and I felt so tired and lazy. Sex was actually a pretty hard work. I pulled Wolfram closer to my body and started to doze off again. Wolfram whimpered and said something about not being able to eat anymore before he dug his little face into my shoulder and was deeply asleep again. I sleepily kissed the crown of the nest of golden curls before I settled in to sleep again, but there was a knock on the door.

"Go away," I thickly called out, burying my nose into Wolfram's nice-smelling, soft hair. Wolf wriggled and tried to pull out of my arms, and I held him in place. He struggled a little like an unhappy kitten before he settled down again. He yawned, showing off tiny pink tongue, and sleepy green eyes half-opened when he heard someone insistently knock again. I felt more pissed off about whoever it was waking Wolfram up than anything else. He must be even more tired than I am, and the jerk couldn't leave us alone.

"Leave us alone before I rip out your arm and feed it to you!" I shouted before I cringed, the pain shooting up my back again where Wolfram's nails have done their work. I didn't even want to know what my back looked like right now, but if the blood on the sheets were any indication, my back didn't look too good right now. Trimming Wolfram's nails was definitely one of my priorities. Wolf looked more awake at my screams, and he blinked before he yawned again.

"It's probably something important," he dryly said. His voice had died and his words were scarcely above whispering. I kissed his eyebrow. Wolfram blinked again, and then he suddenly turned to stare into my eyes.

"Hey, come to think of it… You're the bastard who took my throne away from me."

"Uh-huh," I agreed. Wolfram blinked again, and I tucked a stray strand of blond curl behind his ear. His ears were so cute.

"I helped to train the miserable whoreson who took everything away from me and my family, and I gave him my body and heart and soul, and I even offered to carry his babies for him?"

"Uh-huh," I genially agreed again. Wolfram looked sleepy again and he snuggled against me, his wee hand moving to rest against my heart.

"Oh well… At least I did a good job of raising a demon king, didn't I?"

And he was asleep before I answered him.

[END]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!


	11. Epilogue

He was like the moon.

_…What? But…_

The pale, almost ghostly skin glistened like cream under moonlight. His narrow black eyes shimmered in inky pools every time he smiled. And his hair cascaded over his thin shoulders like waterfalls. I was fond of running my hand through his hair and watching the long strands that nearly reached his waist slithering past my fingers. It was fascinating to watch his straight, glossy hair that had metallic quality to it, so different from my own fair curling hair, frame his small oval face. My beautiful, beautiful love—surely there is no one in this world who is as beautiful as you are.

_But that's wrong. My love is not…_

"It would be lovely if you can trouble yourself to put some clothing on," he gently chided. His soft voice almost never became loud, except perhaps when he was writhing underneath me in throes of passion. I leered at him and showed him what I thought of his scolding by throwing the blankets off of my nude figure. He sighed and lowered his eyes to his scrolls again. I felt indignant that he would choose to ignore me. I strode over to him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, and he softly sighed again.

"I don't remember agreeing to marry such a big baby," he complained. I smirked as I reached down and patted his stomach. It was still flat, but nevertheless, I could feel the healthy baby growing inside. At his father's touch, he let out feeble sparks of magic, which made me grin wider. I was very proud of my partner, and our baby. My love, as usual, fretted about everything, starting from how we were too young to have a baby yet and ending with how this wasn't the right time to start a family. I knew that. I knew we shouldn't have a baby during such terrible, war-torn times, but I wanted him to myself so much; so much that I couldn't wait one more minute. So I begged, and pouted, and threw tantrums until he finally let me have my way.  
_  
Huh? What the hell is going on…?_

"You should rest now, love. We have lots of ground to cover tomorrow. You may read those stuffy old scrolls to your heart's content once we approach the Carloria borders."

"But even as we reach territories more friendly to us magic-users, our battle is still not over," my partner said in his sweet voice, his beautiful black eyes clouding in his worry. "There is still the originator that you must defeat. I will do everything I can to…"

Help me survive the battle?

"…make the battle easier for you, dear. But we haven't much time."

"But if you're too tired to ride your horse properly, it will be even more dangerous for me. I will not be able to fend for myself if I knew that you were too sleepy to protect yourself and our unborn child. I want to find you asleep by the time I come back from discussing our route with Voltaire, sweetheart."

"Alright." He smiled and I lightly kissed his lips before I dressed and left our tent. While I prodded on to Voltaire's tent, I fondly thought about how he and our child could be safe in territory where they did not hate magic-users like ourselves. All his life, my poor love has been despised by magic-users and non magic-users alike, just because his hair and eyes were colors of midnight. As a matter of fact that's how I've first met him; by rescuing him from some psychotic people who were trying to burn a 67-years-old child alive, just because he had black hair and eyes. I found him exotic and beautiful even at that first meeting, and it did not take long for me to fall in love with him. Most happily he returned my feelings and we had been lovers for almost 10 years now.

And soon, I shall defeat the originator for once and for all. I will make this world a safe place for my child and partner for all eternity.  
_  
But I've already defeated the originator.;;;;;;; Wait, I'm…?_

"Leonard," Siegbert Voltaire greeted me in his typical gruff voice. Rufus Bielefeld was also at his tent; from looks of it they were playing another heated round of cards. After I've greeted both, we sat down and opened the map to plan out tomorrow's route.

_Wait wait wait!!! My name is not Leonardo Dica… I mean, Leonard!;; I'm Shibuya Yuuri Harajuku Furi!_  
_  
I opened my mouth and what came out was_, "I disagree. I'd rather not take a route that has no water source nearby."

…Oops. Forget about the Harajuku part.;; Before you make comments about my name, I recently started to think that it's not so bad since no one would confuse my name's spelling. When I introduce myself, I can just say, "Oh, yes, it's spelled as Shibuya is advantageous," so I'm no longer as upset about my parent's choice in my name. I guess I'm growing more mature, too… Wait, that's not the problem here;; So who are these people and who am I and where am I and what was I doing again?!;;;;;;;;

"But this one is twice as long, and it's open land, besides. How are we going to defend ourselves in emergencies?"

"Lawrie is coming," Rufus suddenly interrupted, pulling out his sword. Siegbert and I stood up, pulling out our swords as well. I felt uneasiness settle at my stomach as my heart stated to beat faster. The fact that Lawrence Weller, who was on the watch, was running towards us with his sword drawn was not good news at all.

"Leo," Lawrence said in a low voice as he got near enough for us to hear him, "I saw some suspicious movements. I haven't noticed until they were right under my nose; I don't think they're just normal soldiers. I think we'd better…"

"Shit, Weide!" I spat out before I started to run, back to our tent. I should've never left his side. Only this morning I noticed that some men were looking at him funny as we passed by, but I thought he was hidden well enough under the cloak. I should've kept in mind that we were still at hostile territory!

Sudden explosion shook the ground. The force knocked me to a kneeling position, and my eyes hurt from the blinding flash. What kind of accursed magic is this? I thought to myself as I forced myself to stand and run again. Please, please let Weide not be hurt…

My breath caught on my throat when I finally arrived at our tent. The surrounding foliages were completely burned off, and most of the tent was gone, too. My little Weide was curled into a ball at the corner of the burned frame of the tent. Stench of charred flesh and blood, a smell we were all so used to, made me nauseous and dizzy. I saw what remained of one leg and half of an arm.

"Weide… Weide, love, please," I said. I meant to shout, but it came out more as a hoarse whisper. I stumbled towards him. When I finally reached him, I put my hands on his shoulders and tried to pull him into my arms.

"No! No! Don't, please, my baby," Weide screamed as he pushed me away from him. His blank eyes were staring at something beyond me; he was violently trembling and the smell of blood was chokingly strong. I noticed blood staining his light green robe at his stomach area. I also noticed that I could no longer sense my unborn child.

He was dead.

Everything after that was a whirl of colors and sounds that I couldn't register well. I heard Rufus screaming and crying, and when I looked down, I was holding mutilated corpse in my bloodied hands. After that I blanked out some more, and someone had to speak to me several times before I finally understood what they were trying to say.

"Leo, did you understand what I was saying?" Christel Wincott asked, concern deep in his ocean-colored eyes. "You must let go of him. He needs to rest, all right?"

"Let go?" I didn't understand. Why was Chris making me let go of my love? Our baby died because I let go of Weide's hand. It was all my fault. I left him alone while he was protecting our child from murderers who had tried to kill them both and sell them to people who believed that you would gain eternal life if you ate the flesh of pregnant double-black and the child in double-black's womb. I promised him that I would always protect him. And I failed.

"Died," I finally said. I hadn't realized that I was crying until I felt Chris wiping my tears away.

"You need to rest, too… You won't be able to protect him if you're tired, right?"

"That's what I said," I said. "Weide… Told him… He needs to sleep, because, we need to… Tomorrow, and, I… Can't protect him and our baby if he's tired, and I…"

"I know." Chris was crying, too. "I know, Leo… We all failed."

*****

Who will acknowledge your good intentions if you had no power behind your words?

Last few hundred years, there was an increase of children born with special powers. I, myself, was able to control the power of thunder and light. Normal humans who had no magical powers shunned and abused us, even while we were growing more numerous every year. Humans used us when they needed us, such as mercenaries during wars, but they quickly threw us out of their territory when we ceased being useful to them. It was only too easy to gather other magic users who were willing to fight on our side.

It was such an easy victory that it almost seemed silly. With Weide and Siegbert on our side, carefully planning out every strategy, it was mere child's game to conquer one country after another. I, who had the strongest magic in the recorded history, headed all the battles and easily won every one of them. We no longer wanted to be accepted by humans; to be part of their society. We formed our own country and called ourselves the Demon Race, for it was only right that we should be feared and hated by humans. I would continue to fight until I kill off every last one of them from the face of this land.

At the beginning Weide had given me a strategy which made us circle around the village. When I asked him about it, Weide had softly replied, "We can't involve women and children in this."

"The same way that humans spared our child?" I coldly asked. Weide only looked at me before he ripped up the parchment and wrote me a new strategy.

Somehow, I could never forget the look that he gave me.

Few years later, I would attempt to get rid of the originator for once and for all. I would fail, and die in Weide's arms. But my one comfort was Weide who had bravely smiled even as he was crying. He held my rapidly cooling body in his arms as I reached up and touched his cheek for the last time.

"I'm sorry," I said. My vision was starting to fail me, but I could still hear his serene voice. "I failed you again."

"No, this time you protected everyone. I am very proud of you.. And so will our child be, once she is born and hears all about how her papa protected us all."

"Child…" I struggled to see Weide, but I couldn't move at all. "You're…"

"Yes, I'm with your child again. And… All I wanted, really, was… Give our child a world where humans and demons could live happily together." I felt him closing my unseeing eyes. "Rest, Leo… I will protect everyone now."

A world where humans and demons could live happily together…

*****

I woke up crying. My heart was so crushed with sadness and despair that I could only cry, trying not to throw up. While I gasped for breath and continued to sob, our infant son woke up and started to wail with me. I felt soft fingers on my cheeks and my love murmuring, "Yuuri? Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"Wolfram," I said, pulling Wolfram into my arms. Wolfram patted my back while I cried, softly soothing me while he also attempted to calm our crying baby.

The Original King knew that all the Great Philosopher wanted, really, was to live in a peaceful world where humans and demons co-existed. That's why at the last minute, when he could have sealed the originator in souls of hundreds of human beings and have them die instead, he chose to seal it within himself and died. That was also the main reason why he chose me as the demon king, over Wolfram. Wolfram held too much hatred and contempt for humans; he was too similar to the Original King. He didn't want repeat of his own mistakes…

"Yuuri," Wolfram softly called my name. Even though we fought so much last night, he was still so worried about me having a little nightmare. It had been a long time since we've hugged each other like this. He smelled sweet and milky, and he was even warmer and softer than I had remembered.

Last few days, we fought so much that even the maids were gossiping that our marriage was cursed after all; we were not meant to be as I had seen Wolfram's face earlier than three months before our marriage. I had started to believe in that ridiculous superstition and was seriously contemplating a divorce as we were fighting yesterday night. Wolfram was beautiful, and sweet, and I loved him very much. But his temper was too terrible. He had screamed at me as soon as he saw me yesterday night that I don't help him enough with the baby, and when I yelled back that I'm busy, too, and that he should just give the baby to the wet nurse, Wolfram had actually thrown a vase at me. He missed, but the very idea that Wolfram would resort to domestic violence made my heart cold.

But was I actually listening to Wolfram? I have never talked my feelings to him as honestly as I did the first week we met. Back then we were strangers, but we told each other everything. Now that we were married, we scarcely talked to each other. When we talked, we fought. Wolfram spent most of his seven months of pregnancy either throwing up or yelling at me. The more he yelled at me, the more I avoided him by supposedly doing my kingly duties. This made Wolfram cry and yell more.

Listen to my heart, Wolfram's eyes were begging me last night, the same way that Great Philosopher's eyes were begging the True King in my dreams. It's only now that I realized it. Please, listen to my voice. Doesn't my voice reach you at all? Don't you know what I really want?

I was hiccupping from crying too much, but I determinedly wiped my tears away and picked the baby up. My son was only two months old. He was still so tiny and fragile. If I had lost him when he was still in Wolfram's womb… The thought made fresh tears spring to my eyes, and the baby fussed when he sensed my unhappiness.

"Yuuri?" Wolfram uncertainly asked. He suddenly seemed afraid. "What… What's wrong? What are you thinking about?"

"Let's talk," I said, swallowing as I cradled Yuu. "I love you, Wolfram, and I love Yuu. I really want this marriage to work out. So let's talk."

"Talk about what?" Wolfram asked. He sounded angry, but this time I was looking into his eyes. And his eyes were filled with fear, not anger.

"First of all, why are you so against getting a wet nurse for Yuu? You're still weak from pregnancy, Wolf. And you wake up every two hours to nurse the baby."

"Are you calling me a weakling? Are you saying I'm not man enough to nurse my own son?" Wolfram asked, his voice in rapid crescendo with every word as his green eyes flashed. I held up my hand.

"We're not having another shouting match, Wolfram. Look at your dark circles. You need your sleep."

"Oh, so now I'm too ugly for you! I'm fat, and I have dark circles, and my skin is crap and my hair is all stringy and oily, and—"

"Don't be ridiculous. You're beautiful. Don't change the topic," I said, keeping my voice quiet but stern, just like how Murata talks sometimes. Wolfram blinked. The baby cooed. "There's nothing wrong with asking for help when you need it, Wolfram. And you do need help. You went through hell the last seven months to bring this beautiful child into the world, Wolf, and there was nothing I could do when you were pregnant except massage your ankles and belly, but now Yuu is born and I want to help, too."

There was a long silence. Yuu was asleep again, and I put him in the crib and covered him up with his baby blanket. The baby stuck a chubby fist into his mouth as he slept, and I patted his back while I waited for Wolfram to say something.

"When I was a baby," Wolfram finally started. I came back to the bed and sat next to him, holding his hand. Wolfram took a deep breath and continued. "I thought the wet nurse was my mama. I don't want… to give that experience, to, my son."

Wolfram bit into his lips, trying not to cry.

"But it's not like I'm asking you to leave Yuu solely to the wet nurse, Wolfram. Of course we'll both take care of Yuu, like we're doing with Greta. Just because Greta spent most of the day with Lady Cheri or Miss Anissina during your pregnancy, do you think Greta thinks they're her mother?"

Wolfram seemed to find that thought funny, because he started to laugh. I also laughed. I felt something melt in my heart. I loved this man so much. What the hell was I thinking, even imagining I could live without Wolfram by my side? I had worked so hard to marry him. We were so happy before the baby…

The baby?!

Thinking back, it was when Wolfram was pregnant that he started to be so angry. He was always tired and nauseous. He, who was a soldier, was locked up in the castle and could barely move because of his swollen belly and ankle. I wasn't around to hear his discomforts; I was studying and training myself so much, both physically and magically, that as soon as I reached the bed at night, I just fell asleep. Even now I barely helped with the baby, and when Wolfram said he was tired, all I said was to tell him to get a wet nurse. While Wolfram woke up at four in the morning and cried in tiredness while feeding the baby, I half-opened my eyes and then fell asleep again.

Come to think of it… I'm a human garbage… orz

"I just wanted to give Yuu the love and attention that I've never received as a baby," Wolfram quietly said. "Because Yuu is my precious baby that I had with the man I love the most."

"That's fine, as long as you'd let me help you, too," I said, holding Wolfram close. "I love you and the baby, too, you know. All I'm asking is that you let the wet nurse take care of Yuu during the night, so you can get some sleep. Okay?"

For first time in months, Wolfram's eyes sparkled when he smiled, and I remembered all over again exactly why I loved him so much.

"Yuuri."

"Uh-huh."

"This Saturday… Let's ask Elder Brother if you can get a day off so all four of us can go on a picnic together. Greta learned how to make those little ham sandwiches, and Gisela said the weather's warm enough for Yuu to go outside, too."

"Okay." I laughed and said, "As a matter of fact, let's ask Gwen if I can take every Saturday and Sunday off. I think it's against the labor laws or whatever to make me work every day of the week, right?"

"No," Wolfram said. At my surprised look he said, "You have to make that law. You're the king, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

And after that,  
Despite what everybody said,  
Wolfram and I were very happy together.

[END]


End file.
